A Hero is Born
by BenRG
Summary: A novelisation of the MIXX mangas.  Plus a few little extras of my own.
1. Prologue & Chapter 1 - A Hero is Born

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A Hero is Born

Based on the first part of the Sailor Moon Manga

Original story by Naoko Takeuchi

Adapted and novelised by BenRG

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Legal Disclaimer

Sailor Moon, her friends and her enemies are all the creation of the wonderful and lively Naoko-sama. I am only a devoted follower and fan. How could I ever claim to own such a wonderful story? I know my limits…

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Prologue – Time Passes

I am surrounded by the grey, featureless fog of time. An age may pass in a second, or a second may expand into an age from my post at the Gates of Time, a place from where infinite journeys to other times and places are possible. 

In my aeons of existence, I have had many names and many identities. Some call me a goddess, others call me a demon. In truth, I am nothing but a humble soldier, doing her duty for a queen who I loved as a surrogate mother, and for a princess who was the daughter that I never expected to bear myself. I am most commonly called Sailor Pluto or The Champion of Time. I am the guardian of this place and a warrior of a lost golden age called the Silver Millennium. In more recent eras, I people have also called me aunt, lover and even, much to my surprise, 'Mama'.

However, the most valued name that I have ever received was that of 'Tris-chan'. I was given this affectionate nickname by an ordinary little girl with an extraordinarily pure heart and soul, who could love without condition or limit. A girl who was easily frightened or upset, but who had a soul of steel and who could face any terror with unblinking courage and defiance. A girl who loved her life, but died on more than one occasion so that the entire human race might survive.

This girl, who I proudly now call sister and Queen, is more than just a warrior, a monarch and a leader. She is more than the Messiah of Light and the founder of the Crystal Millennium. She is more than a goddess, although she would scold me if she ever knew I thought of her in those terms. She is my friend. 

This is her story.

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Book 1 – A Hero is Born

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Chapter 1 – Late Again! A Bunny at School

It was the morning of 12 January 1992 in the Minato-ku section of the Juubian district of the city of Tokyo, in Japan. Another day had long begun for this bustling city, but one person had not yet begun the last day of her life, as she had known it to be thus far.

"Serena? _Ser-ee-naaa!_" The loud calls slowly roused the 14-year old girl with luxuriant golden blonde hair from her precious sleep. 

Serena Caroline Moonlight moaned slightly and rolled over in her bed. "Just a little longer mom…" she murmured to herself. "I just want to sleep… a… little… longer…"

Suddenly, the door to the pink-bunny-themed bedroom swung open, revealing the girl's mother. Ilene Moonlight stood there, framed by her glorious hip-length raven black hair, looking at her first child with an expression that combined love and a certain resigned annoyance. The girl was _such_ a slugabed. She went to bed promptly at 9pm every day, and yet she was still virtually impossible to get up earlier than noon. "Serena, it is 7:30," Ilene said firmly. "If you are not up and in school in thirty minutes, you will be late."

The key words 'school' and 'late' penetrated the somatic fog around Serena's mind and the girl suddenly snapped into a sitting position with a wailing scream that made every glass fitting in the Moonlight family's high-class home rattle. "SEVEN-THIRTY?" Serena wailed. "MOM! _WHY _DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP EARLIER?!?"

Ilene winced at the sonic barrage, but somehow managed to stay conscious. "I did, darling," she said. "In fact I did it twice, and your alarm clock has gone off five times!"

Serena threw off her pink comforter and leapt to her feet. "I've got to hurry!" she wailed. "Uniform… books… breakfast…! Mom! _Help me_!"

Ilene shook her head. She loved Serena unconditionally, of course. She was her daughter and her firstborn. Nothing else mattered. However, the girl was a great trial for her. She was perpetually late, and was extremely lazy. Ilene suspected that Serena was smarter and tougher than she made out, but was simply too _lazy_ to make the effort to show this. Sometimes, she despaired when she thought about her likely future.

Serena, meanwhile, had metamorphosed into a blur of motion as she dragged on her school uniform and tried to get her book bag in order while _simultaneously_ brushing her teeth and pinning up her knee-length hair. Ilene decided to leave her daughter to her morning preparations and went downstairs. 

Her son, Samuel, was hardly awake, even though he was just as late as his sister at this moment, and he was just finishing his breakfast. However, Samuel went to the elementary school, which was _much_ nearer to home than the junior high school that Serena attended. Well used to her daughter's habits, Ilene prepared some toast with jelly on top and put it on a plate on a spot on the dining table that was closest to the stairs and waited.

As she did so, she looked through today's paper. It was, of course, the _Tokyo Daily News_, the publication that her journalist husband, Kenneth, worked for. She was proud of her husband's senior and respected position in the journalistic world. In Japan, after all, such an advanced position reflected honour on all the family. However, she felt that it had adversely affected Serena and Samuel. Serena, as already noted, was lazy and hideously tardy. Sammy tended to be arrogant and cruel. Both were, Ilene was more than willing to admit, hideously spoilt, used to getting things from their well-off father on demand. Of late, Ken had been trying to instil some discipline in his children. This only succeeded in making Serena wail and whine publicly and turned Sammy to even more vicious persecution of his elder sister as he competed for reduced resources.

A particular story in the newspaper caught Ilene's attention. 'Sailor V Saves the Day' the story proclaimed. The story went on to describe the latest exploit of Sailor V, a teenage girl (who had first appeared in England, but had recently suddenly moved to Japan) who wielded what were described as 'magical' powers and had taken to fighting crime. In these mediocre times, such bravery had caught the attention of the world's press. There was even a fairly detailed artist's impression of the girl vigilante. She had pale blonde hair held back by a red bow. Her… costume, there was no other way to describe it… was a white form-fitting bodysuit with a blue sailor's neckerchief, a blue micro-miniskirt and two blood red bows, one on her chest and the other on the back of her belt. She also wore red spectacle-like goggles over her eyes, no doubt to prevent people recognising her.

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Sailor V does it again, Ilene thought. _She really is something! How does she do it?_ She looked at the clock and sighed. _As for the young lady of this house…_ she continued, feeling more resigned. "Serena, honey! It is 7:40!" she called out.

There was suddenly a blur of motion down the stairs. Serena was wearing her school uniform, a white v-neck blouse and a blue knee-length skirt. In a bizarre touch, the collar of the blouse was trimmed to resemble the neckerchief of an old-style sailor's uniform. There was also a blood red bow tied at heart-level. Ilene only knew this from memory because her daughter was little more than a blur as she shot down the stairs. The girl snatched up a slice of toast, grabbed her lunch, neatly tied up in a spotted handkerchief and darted towards the door. "ThanksmomIloveyouseeyoutonightbye!" Serena babbled as she shot out the front door with such force that it banged hard against the wall at the end of its' swing. 

Ilene winced. "See you tonight, darling," she murmured with a gentle smile.

***

Serena shot down the roads separating her from her destination as fast as she could. "Watch out, people!" she shouted. "Gangway! Blonde on a mission here!" Serena Moonlight, aka 'Bunny' to all and sundry, was well used to being late and consequently running everywhere. Ironically, it meant that a lazy girl was _very _fit.

Why 'Bunny'? It was quite simple. Serena put her long blonde hair in the most unique hairdo you could ever hope to see. There were two mini-buns at the top of her head, above her ears, with long (hip-length) pigtails running down from the back of the buns. She had suddenly started wearing this 'do shortly after her twelfth birthday. She had never figured out where she might have seen it or why it was so important to her that she wore her hair that way. Some of her school-friends decided that the buns reminded them of rabbits' ears, hence: Bunny. The name had simply stuck. Right now, those glorious long pigtails were flying behind her like an acrobat's streamers as she raced towards school.

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Oh man, I'm going to be late again_!_ Serena was thinking desperately to herself. _Mornings are the worst! Why does school have to start so early? Better yet, why does there have to be school at _all_? I never get anything from it! I'd rather be having fun in the park or the arcade!_ Serena wasn't stupid, but she had never seen the point of studying. Studying was _work_, something that she simply couldn't bring herself to do. What were her ambitions? Serena had never thought that far ahead in her life. It was probably to marry a handsome prince and live in luxury… or maybe her caring heart would ultimately lead her into medicine or nursing. Who knows? Whatever she might have been, however, was about to change in the most astounding way possible.

Serena was also very, very clumsy and klutzy. She was now deep into her pubescent growth spurt, and she was having to deal with legs and arms that had suddenly become very gangly and uncooperative. Combining this with her headlong rush towards her school, it is no surprise that she didn't see the obstruction in front of her.

Serena was suddenly airborne and she collided with the ground with a resounding 'thud'. The girl saw stars and cried out in pain and surprise. After a few moments she staggered to her feet, tears of extrovert self-pity streaming down her face. "Oww…" she moaned, hoping devoutly to get someone's sympathy. Regrettably, the pavement was empty at this time. She began to rub her bruised forearms and lower legs as she staggered back to her feet. "What was that…?" she muttered. "Which joker left something on the pavement?"

Serena turned around and, much to her surprise, saw a black cat lying on the pavement a few feet away. The cat was making a piteous meowing noise. It was pretty obvious that this was what Serena had tripped over. "Kami-sama!" she whispered. "I tripped over a cat!" Serena was naturally compassionate. She hated to see people or things hurt. Perhaps she would end up becoming a vegetarian in the fullness of time, but truthfully she loved hamburgers too much for that.

She picked up the dazed cat and cradled it in her arms like it was a baby. "Oh, poor neko-chan!" she murmured. "Did I hurt you? I am very, very sorry!" Serena bent forwards and nuzzled the creature's face affectionately. Somehow, the contact revived the cat, who reacted immediately in the normal manner of its' kind, by attempting to separate Serena's face from her body. The first scratch made Serena scream in pain and she dropped the crazed cat immediately. "Hey! Don't scratch me you ungrateful fleabag!" she hissed at the cat.

For a long moment, the two combatants faced each other. Serena was kneeling on one knee, looking at the cat, who was sitting, looking at her in a strange way. The cat had made no other hostile move, and had not attempted to flee. "You are a strange kitty, Neko-chan," Serena said. She reached out with her hand and the cat sniffed her uncertainly. Serena saw something odd about this cat and she giggled as she looked at the Band-Aid on its' forehead. "Now who would do something like that?" she asked. "Who put the Band-Aid on your head, Neko-chan?" Naturally, the cat did not reply, except to meow once and stroke her head along Serena's hand, making the girl giggle again.

Serena looked at her new acquaintance again before coming to a decision. "Well, I can't leave it on there," she said at last. "Off it comes!" With a swift yank, Serena pulled the sticking plaster off of the cat's forehead. Whether the cat was surprised by the sudden movement or if it had been planning an exit beforehand, Serena never found out. The cat leapt into the air and bounced off of the surprised blonde girl's head before landing several yards further down the pavement. "Ow! Hey! Where are you going Neko-chan?" Serena called out. Then the girl froze. The cat had the strangest mark on its' forehead. It was like a bald patch or even… a _brand mark_ of some kind. A crescent-shaped mark in the centre of its' head.

Serena was, somehow, entranced by this sight. At that moment, a loud bell started to ring. Serena shook her head and turned her face towards her school building, just a few yards away now. "Oh no! I'm late!" she wailed. It was the first late bell of the morning, indicating that you were over five minutes late for the start of school. "Busted again!" she cried out. "I gotta go! See ya around, Neko-chan!" Using all her reserves of speed, Serena shot towards the school. 

As she fled, the cat sat there, watching her with eyes that contained far too much… _awareness_… for this to be an ordinary cat.

***

Serena dashed down the deserted hallway and into classroom 2-1, her homeroom. As always, she was the last in class, but for once, she didn't get a scolding from her homeroom teacher, Miss Patricia Haruna. This was because Haruna-sensei was not present. The blonde girl blew out a deep breath in relief before her classmates, who didn't want her to feel left out, repeated Miss H's usual greeting. "_Bunny Moonlight_!_ You're late again_!"

Instinctively, Serena began to give the excuse that she planned to give Miss H, despite the fact the teacher wasn't there. "It wasn't my fault!" she protested. "I tripped over a cat on the way to school! I had to make sure that it was okay…" Serena suddenly stopped and growled. "And I don't know why I have to explain myself to _you lot_!" she growled before stomping towards her desk, surrounded by derisive laughter.

Serena sat down at her desk, in between her best friend in the world, Molly Baker, and class nerd and all-around freak show Melvin Morton. 

Molly leant over and touched Serena on the shoulder. "Did you really trip over a cat, Bunny-chan?" the redheaded girl asked in her thickly accented Japanese. Molly was originally from New York in America, but her family had moved to Tokyo when she was a little girl. Despite having lived in Japan for a decade, the girl still had a thick New York accent.

"Yeah, it was a weird-looking one too," Serena said. "It had this… bald patch, I guess… on its' head that looked just like a crescent moon!"

"Ah! Kawaii!" Molly sighed. She was one of those girls who thought just about everything was 'cute'. Of course, generally Serena agreed with her. It was one of the reasons that they got on so well…

Suddenly, a deep growl interrupted Serena's thoughts. The blonde girl grimaced and touched her aching stomach. A single slice of toast was not enough breakfast for a growing girl. She was so hungry that her stomach felt like someone had tied it in a knot. As Miss H hadn't arrived yet, Serena decided to do something about it. She unwrapped her lunch and began to tuck into the rice balls that her mother had made for her lunch. "Ah, breakfast," Serena said in between bites. "You just can't start the day without it…" Serena paused and looked at Molly, who was staring over Serena's shoulder, her face pale and terrified. "Molly-chan, what's wrong?" she asked. 

A familiar shadow fell over Serena's desk. "Am I interrupting something Miss Moonlight?" asked a nauseously familiar voice. "Perhaps I should postpone homeroom until you have finished your early lunch, hmm?"

Serena hunched her shoulders in dread and turned to look at her pretty-but-single teacher. "H… Haruna-sensei," she said, feeling a bit sick. "Gomen, but I didn't have a proper breakfast so I…"

Miss Haruna slammed the palm of her hand onto Serena's desk, making the girl jump back in shock and snap her mouth shut. Tears of fear started in Serena's eyes as the infuriated teacher leaned down to look into her worst student's face. "Bunny, it is always the same story with you," she snapped. "You get up late, miss your breakfast and you are late for school. Because of that, you are hungry and tired and you keep on falling asleep during lessons. Perhaps, if you took your studies and your life just a _little_ more seriously, you would have time for a proper breakfast _before_ you walk to school, ne?"

"H… hai," Serena said, looking downwards and refusing to meet the teacher's eyes. _Why does she always pick on me?_ she lamented silently. _It isn't my fault that school and homework are boring!_

"Perhaps if you did, you wouldn't fail your tests so miserably," Miss H continued. She put Serena's recent English snap quiz paper on the table. Although some of the answers were right, Serena hadn't come close to finishing the quiz and many her answers were crossed out and mercilessly critiqued in red ink. The number thirty circled with several exclamation points following was at the top of that page, followed by the grade: F – Fail. There were also five demerit marks for failing to finish a 30-question quiz in the allotted time. That meant that Serena had earned enough demerits to get a one-hour detention at the end of the day. Miss Haruna took the opportunity to add another half-hour detention for being late for every school day this month. Serena sighed in a deep, defeated way, and let her forehead bang hard against the top of her desk.

She dimly heard Miss H congratulate Melvin on his top mark for the class: 95% and an A-grade. "I didn't really study for it," Melvin whispered to Serena as Miss H went to the front of the classroom to set up for the morning's lesson. "But it was a breeze, really."

"A 'breeze'?" Molly hissed back. "You are _so_ obnoxious, Melvin!"

Serena sighed and settled her head on her folded arms on the desk in front of her. Miss H had started the morning lesson and the teacher's droning voice was slowly putting her to sleep. _I hate my life_, she thought. _I'd give a lot for a different lifestyle_…

***

Four horrible hours later, Serena, Molly and two of Serena's acquaintances (it would be inaccurate to describe them as friends), named Lorraine Harris and Brandy Campbell, were sitting under the old Sakura tree in the playground, eating their lunches. "I can't believe that Melvin actually beat me on the English test," Molly was complaining. The redheaded girl began to gesture animatedly, making Serena and Lorraine duck to avoid her fork impaling them in the head. "I'm from America! English is my _first_ language, yet I only get 85%!" Molly continued.

Serena sighed. _Wow, an 85_, she thought. _I'd love to get even 67 on a test!_ Molly was _so_ lucky. She was pretty, smart and was one of the rich family who owned the famous OSA-P chain of jewellers. One of the reasons she had moved to Japan was because her mother had taken charge of the company's new Tokyo store. 

As Serena mulled on the iniquities of life, Lorraine was moving on to current events. "Hey, did you hear that there was another jewellery store robbery last night?" Crime and violence was, of course, of great interest to these teenagers. "Just like all the others! The thieves didn't take anything; they just trashed the place! It is as if they were _looking_ for something."

Molly shivered as she listened to the girl with long black hair gleefully describing the crime. "How frightening," she murmured. She was worried about the thieves targeting her mother's store, no doubt.

"There is no need to fear, ladies!" cried out another voice. The four girls looked to see Melvin walk over. "I heard that the thieves were caught last night!"

"Really?" Brandy asked. None of the girls was surprised that he knew this. Melvin was _always_ in the gossip loop. No information, no matter how obscure, evaded the Net-nerd's search software. 

"Yeah, apparently that Sailor V girl caught them!" Melvin said.

"'Sailor V'?" Serena asked. _No that isn't her name. Her name is 'Sailor Venus'_, Serena thought, then shook her head. _Where did that come from? Woah! Need more sleep Bunny-chan; your brains are starting to evaporate!_

"Haven't you heard about her?" Melvin asked Serena. Seeing a chance to impress the pretty blonde girl, he sat beside her and went over to 'lecture' mode, ignoring the way she leant away from him and shot a despairing look at her companions. "She is this blonde girl, about our age, who uses magic to fight crime! 'Defending the innocent in a schoolgirl uniform!' according to her official web page." The small boy took off his thick spectacles to clean the lenses while continuing his lecture. "Of course, cynics suggest that she is just a very short and pretty undercover cop!" He shrugged with a laugh as he resettled his spectacles on his face. "What will they come up with next?"

"Woah!" Molly said. "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

Predictably, Serena missed the 'Wizard of Oz' reference. She only watched animé, not Gajin movies. Melvin, however, understood perfectly well. "Indeed," he said sternly. "This is the big city, Molly-chan. With all these bizarre and hideous crimes nowadays, the local news is more action-packed than a Schwarzenegger movie!"

"Jewel thieves," Lorraine was saying thoughtfully. "You know, I'd love to see their loot!" The black-haired girl had her hands clasped together in front of her heart and she was looking up into the sky in a dreamy fashion.

"Huh?" Serena, Molly and Melvin all stared that the girl, embarrassed sweatdrops appearing on the sides of their faces.

Brandy seemed to share her friend's odd whims. "Yeah! I bet it is full of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls," she sighed. "Gee… I love diamonds…"

"Well then," Molly said, "you should come to my mom's jewellery store! We're having a big sale this week! Wanna check it out after school?" All four girls shouted out their agreement just as the bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch period.

"Getting a commission for this, Molly-chan?" Serena laughed as the four girls ran off to their classes, leaving behind a startled Melvin.

**__**

Chapter 2 – Ondango Atama

As it turned out, Miss H had a hot date that night, so she told Serena that her detention would be tomorrow. Consequently, Serena was able to join Molly, Lorraine and Brandy in front of OSA-P Tokyo at 4:30 sharp. The main display in the centre window of the store transfixed the four girls. "Wow!" Brandy said. "What _is_ that ruby in the middle?" she asked, pointing to a jewel-studded necklace.

"That one is the Midnight Ruby," Molly said. "It cost grandpa about ten _million _bucks to buy it. That is about a _billion_ yen. There were gasps of appreciation from the other three girls. "The one on the gold choker next to it is the Yellow Diamond, another famous gem. Too bad these aren't for sale, ne minna?" There were gasps of appreciation and agreement from the three girls pressed against the glass.

After a moment, the girls could draw themselves away from the display and looked into the store. Everywhere signs proclaimed that there was a sale today. The signs promised anything from 50% to 70% off selected ranges. Understandably, people packed the store to the rafters. "Wow, your mom must really be busy today, Molly!" Serena said. Then she noticed something. _Hey! How come most of them are old ladies?_ she thought, feeling a bit affronted. Like most teens, she felt that the thought of someone over 30 having any kind of style or excitement in their lives was ridiculous. 

Suddenly, a tall blonde woman in a neat one-piece dress and wearing a ruby necklace strode out of a 'staff only' door, carrying a megaphone. When she saw Molly, she smiled and waved. "Molly, honey!" she called out. "You're home from school! How nice! And you brought your friends too?"

Molly smiled, looking a bit embarrassed at her mother's reaction. "Hi, mom," she said quietly. 

Molly's mother walked forward and greeted each girl one at a time, squeezing her shoulders in a way that made Serena feel nervous. Something was wrong, although she wasn't sure what. "It's a bit crowded," Mrs. Baker continued, "but I'm sure that we can find you three girls something suitably pretty. Why don't you come in?"

Brandy and Lorraine didn't need any encouragement to join the scrum around the special offer counters. Mrs. Baker went out onto the street and turned on her megaphone. "_Roll up! Roll up! The great OSA-P sale must end today! Hurry while our stocks last!_"

"Wow, she sure is… er… an aggressive seller," Serena said, trying to put a positive slant on things.

Molly nodded, looking worried. "Yeah, she's never like this usually," she said in a fearful tone of voice. "She's acting more like a used car salesman!"

Mrs. Baker turned back to Serena and Molly. "Serena, don't you want any of my jewellery? It is going cheap… well, relatively cheap."

"Gomen, Baker-san, but I can't afford anything," Serena said.

The blonde woman squeezed Serena's shoulders again, making the girl want to scream and hit the woman to make her let go. "I will give you a special discount, dear," the woman said in a disturbing tone of voice. "Please come in." After hesitating for a moment, Serena and Molly entered the store. They didn't see Mrs. Baker's mouth curl up in a cruel smile, nor did they hear the mocking, inhuman laughter that bubbled up from deep within her. "That's right," the woman hissed. "Give me your life-force, you pitiful creatures. Give me your energy. I want more of it…! MORE…!"

Inside, Brandy had found a ring with a rainbow-coloured gem and was looking at the obscenely cheap price on the tag in glee. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she cried out ecstatically. "I'm sure daddy will buy if for me after I aced the English test!"

Serena looked at the gem for a moment and then her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I want one too," she said in a small, inaudible tone of voice. She looked at her test paper again, staring at the bright red '30'. "There's no way that daddy will buy _me_ anything with a grade like this," she said. "I'll be lucky if I'm not grounded for life! And I've spent all my allowance this month so I can't afford it myself…"

With a deep, defeated sigh, Serena stalked out of the store, crinkling the treacherous test paper up into a ball as she did so. _I hate quizzes, _she thought and carelessly threw the ball of paper over her shoulder. _I'm going home before I start crying_.

"Ow!" she heard from behind her. She swung around to find a man standing behind her wearing a beautifully turned-out tuxedo and wrap-around biker's sunglasses. "Thanks a lot, cow-tails," he said in a dangerous, smoky tone of voice. "Right in my face. Why don't you find a wastebasket rather than drop litter in the future?"

For a long moment, Serena could only stare at the… _stunningly_ handsome young man standing before her. She could hear her heart pounding. Her hands were getting sweaty and she was having trouble breathing, especially when the guy pulled his shades down his nose so he could look at her over the top of the lenses with his stormy midnight-blue eyes. _Va-voom!_ Serena thought, as she felt herself begin to dissolve in those eyes. Then she suddenly realised that she had been insulted. "W… Why you…!" she managed to splutter as her outrage tried to kick-start her brains. "Listen, Mr. Know-it-all! They are _pigtails_, not 'cow-tails', whatever _they're _supposed to be!"

"Whatever," the man said with an arrogant but heart-melting smile. He unfolded the test paper and began to read it thoughtfully, as if it was his business what grade Serena was getting in English.

"Give me that back, you stupid, stuck-up baka!" Serena shouted.

"_I'm_ a baka?" the man asked, brushing a few rebellious locks of his raven-black hair out of his eyes. "That's rich coming from someone who just scored 30% on such a simple test, ne Ondango Atama?" With that, the man threw the test back in Serena's face.

The girl went bright red and stalked up to the man, who looked at her with an eyebrow raised in amusement. "_What _did you call me?" she snapped.

"Ondango Atama," the man repeated. "It fits when you've got those dumplings on your head," the man chuckled and tugged on one of Serena's buns. Serena was so outraged that she didn't notice the tug turn into an appreciative caress down the length of one of her pigtails.

"Why you…. _arrogant_… AARGH!" Serena threw her hands up into the air. "I've had enough! Goodbye, Baka!"

"Sayonara, Ondango Atama," the man called, waving as the petite blonde girl stormed away in a huff.

As she walked away, Serena shot a look at the guy. He had re-settled his shades and was looking at the ruckus in the OSA-P store in a meditative way. An almost-physical wall of aloofness and loneliness somehow surrounded him. _Who is that guy?_ Serena asked herself. _What does he think he's doing? Wearing a tuxedo out in the streets? I bet he thinks he is sooo cool! _Serena had to force herself to look away. _Okay, he's handsome and you could drown in those sad eyes, Bunny-chan, but he is just a jerk on the street. Let him go._

Serena would have been very surprised to learn that Darien Michael Shields was watching her go out of the corner of his eye. _Kids these days_, he thought. _Okay, so she's pretty, her hair feels like silk and I could feel the compassion in her heart from ten yards away, but she's just a kid on the street. Let her go_. The young man turned back to the OSA-P store, watching the sale-cum-riot thoughtfully. The dreams were back in full force. The beautiful lost princess had been calling out to him, begging him to find something for her. Without understanding why, he had found himself on the streets, trying to offer her the assistance for which she pleaded for night after night. She was so sad and so lonely. She had brought her love to him in his loveless life, so he owed her this much.

__

The world's biggest chain of jewellers, he thought, _owned by one of the top gem-merchant families on Earth. Just the place that a guy could find a Silver Imperium Crystal for his dream princess…_

***

Serena slowly trudged through the streets of Juubian towards her home. _This is a serious bummer_, she thought. _I don't want to show this test to mom! She'll freak… as always._ The girl's small frame seemed to shrink in on itself. She didn't like failing tests, and she wanted to make her parents proud of herself, but good intentions were not enough. 

She was passing by her favourite hang out, the Crown Internet Café and Video Arcade. She idly noticed the posters advertising that the arcade now had _Sailor V Fighter_, modestly billed as the hottest action game ever. Serena found herself looking at the artist's impression of Sailor V in the middle of an impressive high-kick. "V-babe, you've got it made," she murmured. "You don't have to study or go to school. You don't have to study mathematics that you'll never use… or the grammar of a language that you'll never speak… or history that has nothing to do with our lives today." Serena laughed self-deprecatingly and looked down. _No, Bunny-chan_, she told herself_. She just has to risk her life every night rounding up bad-guys!_

Serena sighed and looked down at the test paper that promised to make her life a living hell for the next few weeks. _No point hurrying to my own doom_, she thought, counting her pocket change. _I'll just have one little game… or maybe two…_

Within a few minutes, Serena was battling away against various hideous monsters through the Sailor V Fighter game. She pounded away on one particularly ugly creature that seemed to be part crab and part dinosaur. "Come on, die already!" she hissed as she pumped a few more blaster bolts into the creature's scaly hide. "This is impossible! There has to be a secret move that I have to use."

Suddenly, Serena felt a presence behind her. She saw the friendly face of Andrew Fuller, the son of the café owner, reflected in the game's monitor screen. "Hi, Andy-onii-san," she said. 

"Hi, Bunny," the tall, blonde young man said. "You decided to pop in for a quick game after school, I see." Andrew leaned over her shoulder and watched as Serena lashed out with Sailor-V's Love-me chain and cut the dino-crab monster in half. "Wow! You're pretty good, Bunny-chan!" Andrew patted her on the shoulder in a friendly manner, so different from the personal-space-invading assault that Molly's mother had inflicted on her earlier.

Serena felt herself blush and she began to squirm nervously. The Fuller and the Moonlight families had known each other since before Andrew and Serena were born, and the two of them had virtually grown up together. Although Andrew was four years older than Serena and she referred to him as 'Onii-san,' big brother, she had a deep crush on him. She dreamt of the day that he swept her back off her gaming stall and told her that he loved her and wanted to be her prince… _But he isn't my prince…_ Serena thought. She was so shocked by this odd thought that seemed to come out of nowhere that she missed a move and Sailor V fell into a fiery furnace. "Kuso!" she cursed, thumping the joysticks away from her.

"Easy on the equipment, Bunny," Andrew said firmly. "And watch the language while you're at it."

"Sorry, Andy-kun," she said, her eyes downcast and another embarrassed blush starting on her face. Suddenly, there was a noise and a familiar meow. Serena turned around. "Oh! It's you, Neko-chan!" she said, her face lighting up in recognition. "Where have you been all day?"

"Is this your cat, Serena?" Andrew asked. "She's been hanging around the arcade all week!"

"No, she isn't mine," Serena said, picking the cat up. "I kinda tripped over her on my way to school this morning. I don't think that she is anyone's, actually. I think that I'll take her home. Maybe mom and dad will let me keep her." Serena smiled gently and nuzzled the cat's furry cheek, making her purr and rub the girl's face appreciatively. "So, why are you bothering Andy-onii-san, Neko-chan?" Serena asked. "Do you want to learn how to play Sailor V?" Maybe it was Serena's imagination, but the cat seemed to roll her eyes in disbelief at her teasing question. 

"Look at this," Andrew said, stroking the cat's forehead.

"I've seen it," Serena said. "She's got a crescent moon-shaped bald patch on her forehead." The girl giggled. "Looks kinda cute."

To Serena's immense amazement, the cat seemed to understand what she said and took offence. The level glare that it was directing at her made her feel _very _nervous. "Er… ah… ha-ha…!" Serena said nervously. "Er… Time to go home, I think," she said. "Do you want to come, Neko-chan?" The cat seemed to consider this for a moment before jumping out of Serena's arms and walking over to the doors. 

"I'll take that as a yes," Andrew said with a grin.

**__**

Chapter 3 – The Last Evening

Serena, with her new feline companion in tow, arrived at the Moonlight family residence just as the sun began to set. "Hello, darling," Ilene said, waving at her daughter from where she was cooking dinner. "You're home a little late!" She saw the cat following her daughter. "And who is this?"

"I tripped over her on the way to school today," Serena explained to her mother. "She doesn't have a collar, and she decided to follow me home. Can we keep her?"

Ilene looked at her daughter. "Maybe," she said. "Your father will have to decide." _However_, she continued silently, _maybe having a pet to care for would teach Serena responsibility._ "So, how was your day at school?" Ilene asked. She caught the way that her daughter rolled her eyes and laughed gently. "Same as usual, huh?" she shook her head. "Anyway, I ran into that nice boy Melvin while I was out shopping. He told me that he got 95% on a surprise English test that you had yesterday. How did you do?"

Much to Ilene's surprise, Serena seemed to buckle under an unseen weight. The girl's face went bright red; storms of anger darkened her normally cerulean blue eyes and her hands closed into fists. _Melvin!_ Serena thought. _That little rat blabbed on me! When I get my hands on him…!_

"Serena…" Ilene said firmly, her hand extended to her daughter. "Show me your test paper, please."

Serena, visibly trembling in fear, extended the horrid document to her mother. Ilene's face darkened with anger, her mouth narrowing to a dangerous line. "Well, young lady," she said. "With grades like this, I wonder how you ever _dare_ to come home." Suddenly, Serena was airborne as her mother (who was stronger than she looked) carried her out of the front door and dumped her on the porch step. "Sit there until dinner is ready," Ilene commanded. "I want you to think _very_ carefully about your future, young lady, because these… _awful_ grades are just _not good enough_!"

"But mom!" Serena protested just as her mother slammed the front door in her face. Serena slumped back down onto the step, tears of self-pity running down her face. _Why does everyone pick on me? _she asked herself. _I'm not such a bad person. Okay, I'm lazy, clumsy and not too smart, but I've never hurt anyone, and I would help anyone who needed it without them having to ask me…_

A sudden nudge on the shoulder from a shoe interrupted Serena's self-examination. She looked up into the sneering face of her kid brother, Sammy. Although he looked a lot like Serena, he had a much harsher personality. Oh, he wasn't a _bad_ person, just a bit spiteful at times. "Great job, Sere-baka," he said. "You've got mom ticked off for the evening! I bet that I'll _never_ get her in the mood to buy me the new Sailor V game!" Sammy turned to unlock the door. "So, what was it this time? Late detention or a failed test?" The boy snorted. "Some role-model _you've _turned out to be!" Sammy pulled down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue mockingly before closing the door in his sister's face. 

Serena's despair turned to anger. "Some little brother that _you've_ turned out to be, you little fungus!" she shouted. Suddenly, she was tired of her exile. "Open the door! Mom!" she shouted, rattling the door as hard as she could. "Open up!" There was no reply. "Okay, don't say that I didn't give you a chance! SAILOR V _KICK_!" Serena delivered a perfect high kick that made the door shudder in its' frame. It also sent an agonising pain shooting up the girl's leg (understandable as she had just kicked metal-reinforced mahogany). Hopping on her good foot, she began to rattle the door again, pounding on it as hard as she could.

Inside, Ilene had gone red in the face with embarrassment. She had covered her ears, trying to ignore out Serena's deafening shouts. Sammy took some pity on his embarrassed mother. Besides, he had his pride. Someone he knew might pass by while his idiot of a sister was making a fool of herself outside. "Mom, she is really making a scene," he said, tugging on his mother's apron.

Ilene opened the door and looked at her daughter, who had collapsed at the foot of the door, gasping in exertion. "For goodness' sake, stop that racket and come in!" she said to her sobbing daughter.

***

On the other side of the Juubian district, the OSA-P had just closed its' doors after its' most successful day ever. Outside, a shadow in the form of a man watched from behind a white domino mask as Mrs. Baker closed the last of the shutters and turned off the store's lights. 

The woman went into a back room and started to examine what looked like several crystalline cylinders that seemed to be filled with a soothing sea blue energy. Mrs. Baker began to laugh. "Excellent," she growled. "Those modified jewels are doing their job perfectly, tapping off the life force from those pitifully vain humans and returning it to me! Soon, I'll have enough energy stored to meet the month's quota in a _day_. The general _will_ be pleased."

…

All over Tokyo, women and girls were stumbling and falling over onto their knees as _something_ started sucking out their very life force, leaving them weakened and dying…

…

Mrs. Baker was looking around the store's vaults. "Now to examine this facility's storerooms for the prize," she hissed in a voice that didn't even _sound_ human. 

The noise that the woman made tearing through the storage shelves, throwing things about in her quest for one particular gem, attracted Molly's attention. The girl walked into the trashed storeroom just in time to hear her mother say, in a voice that sounded like grinding metal: "Plenty of trinkets, but I can't find the thing that I came here to find… Maybe it wasn't here in the first place."

"Mom?" Molly gasped.

Mrs. Baker turned around in a lightning-fast blur of motion. Molly jumped back with a little shriek of fear. Her mother's eyes were glowing with a poison yellow light and her upper canine teeth had lengthened to vampire-like fangs. The woman's 'smile' was one of utter cruelty and sadism. "Well, well," hissed the thing that still looked a little like her mother. "If it isn't my 'darling daughter'!" Mrs. Baker charged at Molly, her fingers arched as if they were claws. Molly screamed like a lost soul.

***

Back in the Minato-ku district, Serena was sitting on her bed, petting her new pet cat and crying to herself.

When her father had come home, he had agreed that Serena's scholastic performance was a disgrace to the Moonlight family. The adults gave the girl a firm dressing down and informed that she would not receive her allowance in the coming month. Mr. Moonlight told Serena that if she didn't improve her grades, they would ship her off to a boarding school that taught discipline as well as knowledge. Finally, they sent her to bed without her normal evening dose of TV and told to do her homework.

All of Serena's weeping and wailing did not affect her parents' resolution in the matter. Finally, her throat sore from wailing, she tried to do her homework as her parents had ordered. She didn't _want_ them angry with her, after all, and she did _want_ to do well at school. However, no matter how she tried, the figures in her math homework blurred into meaninglessness. Her language homework was gobbledegook. Serena tried to concentrate, but the words blurred together. "I… I guess I wore myself out with all my crying," she told her new pet, who observed her silently from her bed.

That was the only bright spot of the evening. Her father had agreed to allow her to keep the black cat so long as she was personally responsible for feeding it and cleaning up after it. He also delivered a stern lecture to his daughter about the health perils that domestic cats faced and received a promise from Serena that she would take her pet to a vet for a check up as soon as possible. One thing that she had stood firm on was that the cat would _not _be spayed. If her new companion were to have kittens, then Serena would care for them too.

Serena tried to get a handle on her homework for one last time and failed miserably. "Kami-sama," she said at last. "I can't do this. I _don't_ wanna do this…" The girl turned off her study light and sank onto her bed next to her as-yet-unnamed cat. "Maybe I'll feel better if I have a little nap, eh Neko-chan?" she said. The cat was silent, but seemed to agree. Serena lay back and sighed. "Just a nap," she murmured, her eyes relentlessly closing. "Just a teeny-weenie nap…"

[DISCONTINUITY]

"Doo-dee-dah-doo-de-doodee-doo!"

Suddenly Serena could see herself, in the form of a chibi bitmapped sprite in a stylised sailor's fuku, walking across a familiar dungeon-like background. _What the…? I'm in a video game? Cool! I'm Sailor V… I think. The costume looks a bit different, I guess…_

Suddenly, a massive Godzilla-esque monster appeared. The Sailor V/Serena sprite drew a sword that began to shine blue-white with power. The monster lunged forward, but the little computer-generated heroine blocked every blow with her sword. Suddenly, she somersaulted over the head of the monster and landed behind it. As it swung around, the sprite touched its' forehead and threw a discus of blue-white light, which slammed into the creature with a blue-white crescent-shaped flash. Then the creature crumbled away into ash. 

The little sprite ran on until it reached what looked like a cell, where she freed a sprite version of Andrew and… and her new cat!

__

Wow! I saved Andrew-onii-san! And my kitty with the crescent-moon bald spot!

SCRATCH! 

[DISCONTINUITY]

Serena jumped awake with a startled cry of pain. "Hey! Why are you scratching me?"

Her new cat was sitting at her side, looking at her in an annoyed way. "For the very last time, this _isn't_ a bald spot," she snapped in a voice with a cut glass English accent. "It is my Moon Brand, and I am very proud to have it!" There was a long pause as a suddenly hyperventilating Serena gazed at her pet. "Hello? Are you awake?" the cat asked in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Is… is this cat talking?" Serena squeaked, so shocked that she wasn't even aware of speaking aloud. 

"Humph!" Of course I talk!" the cat snapped. The cat looked at the shocked teenage girl and relented slightly. "I know that all of this must be a terrifying shock for you, my dear, but you must concentrate on what I have to tell you. You see, I have been looking for you for some time, Serena. I had been afraid that I might never find one of your sisterhood, but I have found you at last. Firstly, the introductions. My name is Luna."

The cat walked up Serena's body and stopped standing on Serena's chest, gazing into her eyes. "By the way, I must thank you for removing that ridiculous Band-Aid. With that on, I wasn't able to talk and my intelligence was that of a normal cat. Frankly, that existence is a nightmare with all the punk kids in this neighbourhood. It has been quite horrible." The cat shook her head. "Anyway, I'm glad that I've found you, as I said before. I have…"

"That's nice, good night," Serena said with a nervous laugh, turning away from Luna and curling up into a foetal ball, trying to fall asleep again. 

"Serena! What are you doing?" Luna raged, waving her forelegs around angrily.

"Stay calm, Bunny-chan," Serena was babbling to herself. "This is just a dream. A really freaky and realistic dream."

"You are _not_ dreaming girl! Get a grip!" the cat said in an impatient tone of voice. Serena didn't respond, remaining curled up on her bed, trembling slightly in fear. "Oh all right!" Luna snapped. "I'll prove it! Here! Take this!" Luna leapt into the air and performed a back flip. Serena turned and looked just in time to see a sparkling silver brooch tumble through the air and land in her outstretched hand.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Serena enthused. Receiving a present made Serena immediately forget her fears about her verbose pet. "I love it, Luna! Thank you so much!" The girl jumped to her feet and ran over to her vanity so that she could fasten the brooch to the centre of her school uniform bow (yes, she was still wearing her uniform. Somehow with everything that had happened today, she hadn't thought to change). "Is it really for me?" the girl gasped, looking at the sparkling crystalline core of the brooch and the red, orange, blue and green gems that formed a cross around the outside. The brooch had an odd design, a silver crescent moon with a five-pointed star in between the horns of the crescent. "This is cool," Serena gasped.

"Bunny, please pay attention," Luna said in an exasperated tone. "I'm sure that you have noticed all the strange events that have occurred lately; all the unsolved crimes in the newspapers and on the TV? Well, you see, this shows that an ancient and terrible Enemy has awoken. You, Serena Moonlight, you are the Chosen One. You and your sisters will fight the Enemy, defeat them and protect the people of this world from evil. Once the Enemy is beaten, we will find out lost princess and… and… Are you even listening to me?"

Luna scowled at Serena, who was still staring at her new brooch in the mirror with an alarmed look on her youthful face. "Luna," she said, "should this brooch be glowing like this?" There was a distinct blue-white glow emanating from the jewelled brooch. Serena touched it and felt a distinct thrill of power.

"Oh for goodness sake!" Luna snapped. "I have been wasting my breath, haven't I? All right, if you really need proof, I will give it to you. Cross your hands over the brooch and say the following phrase: 'Moon prism power: Make up'."

"O… Okay," Serena said. She crossed her hands over her breast, her wrists crossing over her heart and spoke what she recognised as a magical spell with what she hoped was the appropriate respect. "Moon prism power…" The glow from the brooch suddenly brightened to a blinding intensity and Serena felt light headed as she cried out: "Make up!"

Suddenly shimmering lights surrounded the girl, swirling trails of stars and ribbons of energy. Her clothes seemed to dissolve off her body, leaving only the brooch, which was shining like a sun. The ribbons coalesced into strange figure-hugging clothes. Serena felt ecstatic. She had never felt so… _alive_… or as strong in her life. A little moan of pleasure escaped her lips as power surged through her nerves, her arteries and her veins. Finally, the light died down and she could see again.

When Serena opened her eyes, she could see with unprecedented clarity. She could hear every creak and groan in the house. She could hear the peaceful sleeping breaths of her family from the rest of the building. She felt so _strong_, as if she could leap over a tall building with a single bound or as if she could rend steel with her bare hands. Then she looked down at herself and gasped. She turned to look at her full-length dressing mirror and her mouth dropped open. "No way!" she squeaked. 

She was wearing what she could only describe as a _superhero_'s costume. She was wearing a white bodysuit with a midnight blue sailor's neckerchief around the plunging neckline. The sleeveless and legless suit had blue chiffon shoulders that extended a short distance along her arms. She was wearing white elbow gloves that ended with three bright red hoops. Her high-heeled knee-length boots were blood red with white trim at the top and a silver crescent-moon logo on the front. She had a midnight blue skirt that might as well not be there because it was barely thigh-length. A red choker with a jewel that resembled her brooch decorated her throat. At the bottom of the 'V' of her collar was a blood red bow. A second blood red bow was on the back of her belt and had two long blood-red ribbons trailing down her back. A golden tiara with a red gem in the middle made a 'v' across her forehead, and she wore a sky-blue eye mask with feathered edges. Strange red metal protectors covered the front of her buns. Feathered hairpins were fastened to the hair on her forehead, mirroring the edges of her mask. Alarmingly, the hilt of the small katana-like blade that protruded from behind her hips. Most disturbing was the glow of sky blue light shining from various parts of the uniform, such as from in between the ribs around the ends of her gloves, from the brooch, the choker and the bun protectors.

"What in the world is this?" Serena murmured as she stared at her new threads.

From the bottom of the bed, Luna looked at her young charge in a way that combined pride and sadness. She had hoped to have more time to ready Serena for this moment, but the Enemy had other plans, it seemed. "You are the Champion of Love and Justice," she said. "You are the Guardian of the Moon, she who wields the power of the moon in protection of the innocent and in the service of the Silver Kingdom. You are the Sailor Senshi of the Moon."

Serena tried to follow that, but it was just too amazing. Despite the sensations coursing through her body and the sight of her transformed self in the mirror, a part of her still insisted that this was just a dream. Suddenly, however, her mind was wandering and she could see something happening with her inner vision…

__

Molly's face, twisted with fear and pain… Someone was trying to throttle her? Help! Serena jumped as she recognised her friend's voice as it echoed in her mind. Somebody _help me_! PLEASE! My mom's trying to… 

Suddenly, Serena could see the whole scene as if it were a movie being projected on the inside of the lenses of her eye-mask. Molly, with a person that looked like a vampire version of her mother trying to strangle her. "Luna, there is some kind of video playing on the inside of my goggles!" she gasped. "What's going on?"

"You have sight beyond sight," the cat explained. "That, combined with advanced sensing apparatus in your fuku, is enabling you to see the site of the Enemy's latest attack. Do you believe me now?"

Serena looked at her cat. In a strange way she _did_ believe her, but it was all too much to take in. "Luna, I don't get any of this," she said. How odd that she had got used to talking to her cat and getting a reply. Well, 'when in Rome', as her grandma always said when confronted with the unusual or surprising. "Molly's in trouble and we've got to help her," she announced. Dream or no dream, she had to help her friend.

**__**

Chapter 4 – Fighting Evil by Moonlight

"No… Mom, please… don't…!" Molly begged, trying to breathe around the relentless pressure on her oesophagus. 

"I'm not your 'mom,' little girl," was the hissing reply. Before Molly's horrified eyes, her mother morphed into a hideous humanoid monster with glowing inhuman eyes, dagger-like reptilian teeth and bony, fleshless limbs. An unholy symbol glowed in a poison-yellow light from the creature's brow. "I am Morga, little human, and I am your doom! Your mother is currently tied up in he basement while I complete my mission. Don't worry though, she will join you in death soon enough." The creature laughed in sadistic amusement as the redheaded girl screamed and started crying hysterically, clawing desperately at the hands tightening around her throat. 

Across the road, the stranger in a tuxedo and a mask stepped forwards. Mission or no mission, he would be damned if he allowed a _child_ to be murdered by that abomination. He flexed his hand and a red rose, glowing dimly a red-gold colour with earth elemental power, materialised in his hand. He hadn't much experience with his powers, and no combat experience at all, but the girl was in danger and that was all that mattered…

Suddenly a figure leapt from the roof of the building over the road from the OSA-P store and landed in front of the shop. The stranger dived back into the shadows and watched the figure, a girl in a stylised sailor's fuku in the colours of red, white and blue. He noted the strange buns-and-pigtails hairdo with a certain startled _déjà vu_ as the girl lifted up a parked subcompact car as if it were a throw pillow and threw it through one of the entrance doors, making the intruder alarm begin to scream. 

Morga turned around in utter surprise as a car smashed through the front of the shop and a small human female in magically-charged armour leapt through the opening. "Okay, freakazoid! Stand away from Molly, _right now_!" the girl shouted, looking very professional and dangerous.

Morga dropped Molly, who could only cower on her hands and knees, trying to breathe, her consciousness quickly fading away. The witch-monster looked at her adversary thoughtfully. "Oh? And who are you, warrior?" she asked in a hissing, metallic tone of voice.

"Me? I'm… uh…" Serena had no idea what to say next. Certainly, she wasn't about to give that _nightmare_ her real name! Luna meowed urgently and Serena looked around to see the cat sitting on a roadside billboard, silhouetted by the moon. Suddenly, the girl was struck by an inspiration. She turned back to the monster than had been impersonating Molly's mother and the words just flowed from her mouth as if someone else were speaking. "Who am I, foul one? I am the Champion of Love and Justice! A pretty girl soldier in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon! I defend the innocent against the forces of evil, which means _you_! In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!" Serena took a pose, her hands raised in a posture of power.

Morga's response was slightly demoralising. "Sailor Moon?" the monster said. "Never heard of you. Die anyway." The creature raised a hand and projected a poison-yellow-coloured ball of energy at Sailor Moon. 

Startled, the girl dived forwards to avoid the attack. Suddenly, reflexes that she didn't know she possessed kicked in. She caught her dive on her hands and somersaulted forwards through the air, devouring the distance between her and Morga in a moment. Serena landed lightly on her feet and grabbed the hilt of the knife sheathed on the back of her belt. She drew the weapon (wanting to have more than her smile to wave in the monster's face) and, much to her surprise, it trebled in length and began to glow in the same blue-white colour as the energy that glowed from her costume. A deep electrical hum filled the room. Serena blinked in shock when she realised what she had done. She would get straight A-grades in PT class rather than her usual competent C-plus grades if she could do stuff like this normally… _It must be my powers_, she decided. She refocused on the demon as it charged with a terrible hissing sound, its' claw-like fingers cocked to slash at her .

"_Die_!" Morga hissed, lashing out. 

"Woah! Low bridge!" Serena squeaked, ducking the first slashing blow from the monster's left hand and then leaning back to dodge the second from the right hand. Morga changed tack and lashed out with her foot, tripping Serena over. "Ow! Hey, this isn't funny anymore!" Serena protested, tears of surprise and fear starting in her eyes.

"Too bad," Morga snarled and lunged forwards. Instinctively, Serena rolled out of the way and staggered to her feet. Snarling like an animal from her crouched position, Morga lunged forwards again, lashing out with her left claw/hand to disembowel her enemy. Serena instinctively met the attack with the edge of her sword to deflect the blow, forgetting for a second that this _wasn't _a kendo staff like the one she used at her martial arts class, but a razor-sharp katana with some kind of magical enhancement. Morga screeched in agony as the sweep severed her left hand just behind the wrist. 

"Oh! Kami-sama! I'm sorry!" Serena said instinctively, stepping back in horror. To her utter surprise, not a drop of blood had been spilt from the wound. Rather, the severed hand dropped to the ground and turned into a pile of grey ash that quickly blew away.

"It isn't human, Sailor Moon," Luna called from the doorway. "Show no mercy! It will kill you if you don't destroy it!"

Serena licked her lips and nodded uncertainly. _It is just a dream_, she reminded herself. _I've been playing Sailor V Fighter too much, that is all. Just kill the monster like you would in a game_. Serena took a pose, her sword raised above her head, the point facing backwards, in a classic attacking pose. "Time to die, monster," she said. Her proclamation would probably have been a bit more believable if there had not been a fearful squeak in her tone of voice.

Morga staggered to her feet. "You are stronger than most of your pitiful kind, Sailor Moon," she hissed. "Fortunately for me, however, I do not need to engage you personally to destroy you." The demon raised its' remaining hand and gestured in the air. "Listen to me, all you who have drained by my trap! Heed my call and obey my commands! _Destroy Sailor Moon_!"

Suddenly, there was an undefinable sound like something rippling with energy and several green energy portals suddenly appeared. Out of the portals came several people, mostly women, their eyes blank and staring. They staggered towards Serena, their hands reaching out like claws to tear her flesh from her bones. "_Destroy… Sailor… Moon…_" they muttered in dreadful unison. 

Serena kicked the first woman in the face, knocking her back and ducked several clumsy sweeping attacks from outstretched hands. "Hey! What is this?" she shrieked, back-pedalling as quickly as possible. 

"They have been brainwashed somehow!" Luna called out. "Use your sight!" When it was clear that Serena didn't understand, Luna began to gesture wildly with her forelegs. "The goggles, stupid! Concentrate on them!" Serena did as she was told and saw that the zombies were _connected_ to Morga by glowing green energy tendrils. She shouted out that revelation. "You will have to destroy the demon to stop them, Sailor Moon!" Luna declared.

"I can't even get close to it!" Serena protested, ducking several other blows. One of the zombies/brainwashing victims had a bottle of something, which she smashed to create a crude weapon and lashed out at Serena. Serena dodged most of the attack, but the jagged glass edge slashed across her knee. Serena screamed in pain. "Hey! I'm bleeding… This _isn't a dream_!" Serena began to wail and cry. "Oh Kami! I want to get out of here! _I want to go home_!" Morga, realising that her enemy was loosing hope, began to laugh in an inhuman, mocking tone.

Distracted by her sudden terror, Serena didn't notice the zombie coming from behind her until she grabbed her in a head-lock, trying to break her neck. Serena screamed and started struggling. Then, without warning, the possessed woman released her. Serena whirled and saw what looked like a _blood-red short-stemmed rose_ imbedded in the immobilised zombie's left shoulder. She looked up and saw a guy in a black tuxedo wearing a top hat with a scarlet-lined black velvet cape swirling around him standing on the street behind her. He was staring at her with stormy blue eyes from behind a white domino mask. "You must have courage, Sailor Moon," he declared. "You are these people's only hope! Destroy the demon and free them!"

The woman with the broken bottle lunged forwards again. Serena drew her katana, blocked the blow and then kicked the woman in the solar plexus, making her drop her weapon and stagger back. "There are too many of them!" Serena announced, ducking a wild punch and then lashing out with her katana. The sweep of the sword cut across a woman's chest and she staggered back, clutching at her injury. Serena could smell cooking pork and realised that she had just cut a _real person_ with her energy sword! She stared at the char-edged cut on the woman's blouse in horror for a moment, tears of terror and anger clouding her vision. "I… I can't kill them!" she protested. "They're people! They are possessed and can't control their actions!"

"There are other methods, Sailor Moon," Luna called. "Use your tiara. Take it off of your head, say 'Moon tiara shriek', and then throw it so it circles the room!"

"Are you crazy?" Serena said, ducking another attack and sweeping the zombie's legs out from under her before sending her down with a hard karate punch to the right temple. Those self-defence classes that her dad had insisted she attend were now paying off. "What are you talking about?"

"Just _do it_!" Luna shouted angrily.

Serena backed off and pulled her tiara off of her brow. "Moon tiara…" she said, and to her surprise, the decoration morphed into a golden Frisbee-like discus with a razor edge and the red gem just behind the edge. Serena suddenly felt hope. As she raised the discus to throw, it began to glow blue-white. She completed the incantation: "_Shriek_!" and then threw the tiara with all her strength. The discus circumnavigated the room while emitting a high-pitched wail, which was even louder than the shrieking of the store's intruder alarm. The glass began to shake in the display cabinets and the remaining windows and doors.

Morga screamed in pain, falling to its' knees. "Aargh! That noise! The penetrating sound!" the demon wailed, covering its' ears (it no longer looked even barely human). The zombies all began to shake as if they were suffering from a fit. As Serena looked through her goggles, she saw the green energy tendrils connecting the zombies to the demon suddenly break up and vanish. The people all dropped to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. Serena was so startled that she barely thought to catch the tiara as it returned to her after its' second circumnavigation.

Morga staggered to her feet. "You little fool," it hissed. "You've ruined everything, but you haven't won yet!" The monster raised its' remaining hand and began to summon another whirling poison-yellow-coloured energy ball.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Luna cried out. "Use the attacking mode of the tiara! Quickly!"

Somehow, Serena knew what her talking cat meant. "Okay! Moon tiara _action_!" she threw again, this time aiming for the witch-monster. The tiara, glowing like a magical shooting star, shot across the short distance in between the combatants and slammed into Morga's guts with a massive crescent-shaped blue-white flash of light. Morga screamed in fury and agony as blue white light crackled across the contours of its' body, turning grey-green flesh into lifeless grey ash. The tiara leapt back into Serena's hand. The girl cocked her arm, ready to throw again.

For a long moment, the statue of ash that had been Morga stood in the centre of the room, then, with a breath of wind, it collapsed and blew away. "I… I did it?" Serena said quietly.

"Indeed you did, Sailor Moon," said a warm, dark voice. Serena turned to see the tuxedo-clad stranger standing right behind her. She jumped away from him with a little squeak of surprise. She raised her tiara again nervously. "Don't worry, I don't want to fight, little warrior maiden," the man said gently. "Although I did not find what I was looking for, I have found an ally, and for that mercy I am grateful to the spirits of my ancestors."

Serena watched the man in a daze as he stepped away from her. _I know that voice from somewhere, _she thought as she resettled her tiara on her forehead, _but where?_

The stranger stepped out into the night air and shot Serena a heart-melting smile. "I enjoyed the show," he said with a wink. The man pulled a thorn-less red rose from nowhere and threw it to Serena, who caught it. "I have no doubt that we will meet again. Until then, farewell, Sailor Moon." The man leapt into the air and soared off into the night.

"Wow! Cool! What a dream-boat!" Serena gasped, her hands clasped together around the rose, her eyes glazed and unseeing as she tried to see where the tuxedo-clad man had vanished to.

"Well done Serena!" Luna called as she rushed over to her charge. "You have won your first battle! It wasn't exactly from the regulations manual, but for a total neophyte, you have done well!" The cat jumped onto Serena's shoulders and continued her lecture. "As you see, the Enemy has played their first card and revealed themselves to us. They are searching for some kind of gem or crystal. They are also harvesting human life-forces for some reason. So, the question is… Serena, are you even listening to me?"

Serena was still watching in the direction in which the tuxedo-clad masked stranger had gone, still holding the rose that he had given her as if it were a token from a dashing prince. "He is so handsome! What do you think he is, Luna?" she asked. "Maybe a count, or even a prince?"

"Se-_RE_-na! We don't have time for this!" Luna snapped. Serena blinked and turned around to the cat. "Is there anything else you can detect with your goggles?" Luna asked firmly.

Serena frowned and looked around. "There is something odd," she reported. "I can see a blue-white light around me, you and Molly, but not the others."

"That must mean that their bio-etheric energy, their 'life-force' if you will, has been removed." Luna said. "Can you detect any other sources of that energy?" Serena concentrated and quickly detected the crystalline cylinders of energy that Morga had stored in the vault. 

Moments later, Serena and Luna were standing in the vault, looking at the crystalline cylinders. Luna seemed worried as she studied the strange objects. "Those lights are the stolen life-forces of who knows how many innocents," the cat announced. "We have to find some way to return the energy to its' proper place."

Serena shrugged, drew her katana and lashed out at the cylinders, shattering them with one blow. "Serena Moonlight! What are you think you are doing?" Luna shrieked. As soon as the lights were freed from the cylinders, they began to drift up the stairs back to the shop floor where the battle had taken place. As an afterthought, Serena used her sword to cut the ropes around Molly's unconscious mother, who she had found lying in a corner. Then she sheathed her sword and followed the lights up the stairs. She watched as some of the lights entered into the unconscious zombies. The people began to stir, their movements more natural… more 'alive' than beforehand. Most of the lights drifted out of the main doors and vanished into the night, doubtless looking for their owners elsewhere in the city.

"I thought that a simple solution would work," Serena said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Beginner's luck," Luna snorted. "Come on, we have to get out of here. Unless you want to spend the rest of the night answering questions from bystanders and the police."

Molly groggily opened her eyes as the masked girl in the red, white and blue fuku stepped out into the night air and settled a strange black cat on her shoulders. "Wait! Who are you?" she called out. She suddenly remembered the girl's earlier entrance, which had saved her from that monster that had been impersonating her mother.

The heroine turned back and grinned infectiously. "I'm _Sailor Moon_!" she announced, making a 'V-for-victory' gesture in front of her eyes with one hand and the other poised on her hip. Then she leapt into the sky.

"Th… thank you for saving me, Sailor Moon," Molly called out quietly as the mysterious warrior girl leapt onto the roof of the high-rise building opposite, and then jumped off into the night. Then she heard her mother calling her and was engulfed in the crying woman's arms. Molly hugged her back, feeling safer than she ever had before.

**__**

Chapter 5 – Reality

Serena slowly awoke. She was lying on her bed, still in her school uniform. Obviously her 'little nap' had turned out to be a full night's sleep. She felt oddly refreshed. Maybe the secret of a good night's sleep was to not do your homework…

She turned to her cat, who was curled up at her feet and tickled her under the chin. The cat opened her eyes and purred loudly, making Serena laugh. "I had a lovely dream last night, Luna," she said. "I dreamt that I was a superhero like Sailor V. I defeated a monster and saved lots of people!" Serena smiled in a shy way and looked down. "I also dreamt that I met this gorgeous guy who saved my life! Great, huh?"

***

In a place of darkness both near to and far from Tokyo, a man with blonde hair, icy blue eyes and a cruel smile was watching a repeat of the battle between Morga and Sailor Moon in a dark crystal ball. "Hmm…" the man finally said. "So, we have an enemy to contend with. 'Sailor Moon', eh?" The man laughed and shook his head. "For a hopeless amateur, that was a pretty good showing, my dear."

The man, who was wearing a grey uniform with red highlights, turned away from the crystal ball and began to pace. "Well, it seems that events are progressing far more quickly than I anticipated," he said, thinking aloud. "We will have to redouble our efforts. The Silver Imperium Crystal has become indispensable."

***

Because she had got up early, Serena got to school early and was wandering around the playground waiting for the start of lessons. For some reason, her cat had followed her to school, but Serena was glad for the company. Right now, the girl was trying to think of a reason to give Haruna-sensei for not having done _any_ of her homework. Suddenly, she heard Molly talking. "It was incredible!" the redheaded girl was telling Brandy. "My mother had been replaced by some kind of demon and it was using fake jewellery to steal people's souls or something!"

"Yeah, right," Brandy sneered. "Any reason will do for explaining why your mom's cheap baubles crumbled into dust overnight!"

"Listen!" Molly insisted. "I'm telling the truth." 

Serena felt a sudden horrible dread. _My dream! But how could Molly-chan know about it?_ She dived into the shadows of the school building and got as close to her best friend as she could without being seen. Luna jumped onto her shoulders as Serena strained her ears to listen.

"That thing was trying to strangle me!" Molly was continuing. "I thought I was dead! And then Sailor V's partner, Sailor Moon, came to rescue me! She beat the monster; I don't know how. If I hadn't blacked out, I would have seen a real-life superhero in action, blast my luck!"

Brandy laughed. "Whatever," she said. "Great dream you've had Molly-chan."

"No! It wasn't a dream!" Molly was shouting, going red in the face in exasperation. "It really happened…!"

In her hiding place. Serena's legs lost all strength and she slumped to the ground, her limbs trembling. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she began to stroke the Moon Prism Brooch pinned to the centre of her uniform bow. "Serena?" Luna murmured in her ear. "Child, what is the matter? Why are you so sad?" 

Serena jumped in shock and began to cry even harder. Hearing that voice again was the final nail in the coffin of her innocent illusions. "It wasn't a dream, was it Luna?" she asked. Suddenly, she knew with terrible certainty that her life had changed forever. She would never be that happy, carefree schoolgirl ever again. Destiny and a little black cat had taken all that away. 

Luna laughed. "Of course it wasn't a dream, Serena," she said. "It was very real. Considering your lack of training, you did very well. I'm proud of you." Serena slumped and buried her face in her folded arms, still crying. Luna simply stood by, recognising that the girl needed to sort this out in her own time and her own fashion. 

__

I wanted my life to change, Serena thought, _but like this?_ She stroked Luna as the cat rubbed her face supportively. She remained huddled there, feeling unable to face the first day of her new life, until the bell rang signalling the beginning of another school day. Then she gathered Luna to her shoulders and walked to her class. If you looked closely, you would see the sadness and despondency in her eyes. If you looked closer, you would have seen that the brooch on her bow was glowing ever so gently a blue-white colour. If you looked _really_ closely… you would have seen the golden crescent moon mark just visible on the girl's forehead…

__

And so it begins…

****

Author's Concluding Notes

Firstly, some FAQ answers about how I portray Sailor Moon and her abilities.

****

Where did that sword come from? Regular readers will have noticed that I include a magic/energy sword in the Senshi's equipment in all my fanfics. I like the katana, and I think that this weapon (which I call the Soul Blade) would be useful in some of the battles that the Senshi face. Most importantly, I am a Star Wars fanatic, and I _love_ the concept of the lightsabre. I would just love the Senshi to have something like that.

****

How does Serena know how to use a sword? In Japan, all boys have to take compulsory lessons in Kendo, basic swordsmanship using wooden staves instead of swords to practice. I don't know if girls have to attend those lessons too (I doubt it), but _if_ Serena did take them, she would be familiar with the basics of how to use a katana in a fight. 

****

What about the hand-to-hand stuff? You know how both the manga and the animé portray Serena's dad. It is in-character (in my humble opinion) that he would insist that his daughter take self-defence lessons so that she can protect herself. Fighting lumbering zombies would be fairly easy, anyway.

****

Where did that new function of the Moon Tiara come from? In the early issues of the manga, Serena can generate sonic attacks from the bun protectors on her ondangos. While it is a funny concept (thanks to this ability, she really _does_ wail loud enough to shatter glass), it is also a bit silly. More importantly, each of the Senshi has abilities that come from a particular elemental power (fire, light, water, etc). Serena's power seems to be based on focussed moonlight. So the 'sonic' ability doesn't fit. I made it a function of the tiara instead, which appears to have many functions from the way both Takeuchi-san and the animé portray it.

***

I freely admit that I make Serena a bit _too_ competent compared to how she is portrayed in both the earlier issues of the manga and throughout the animé. However, although all the Senshi are fairly green in the first season, they all have certain abilities and skills that come from subconscious memories of their Silver Millennium selves. While these memories are not consciously available to them until almost the very end of the war against the Dark Kingdom, they are _subconsciously _available from the start.

It is true that Serena is clumsy and not-too-bright. However her strength, agility, knowledge and wisdom are all greatly boosted through Princess Serenity and her moonlight elemental powers. While she cannot use most of these enhancements consciously, she can perform great feats based on reflex (like when she somersaults across the room to face Morga in my story). While Serenity was never originally trained to serve as a Senshi, I have no doubt that Jupiter and Mars would have taught her the basic physical skills of avoiding attacks and defending herself as part of their duty as her bodyguards.

We see the subconscious intelligence enhancements in several episodes of the animé. Serena, seemingly by luck, zeroes in on the latest Dark Kingdom operation while all the other Senshi think that she is just wasting time. I suspect that this _isn't_ luck, rather it is Princess Serenity whispering into her future self's ear about where she can feel dark powers gathering. However, outside a fairly narrow range of abilities, Serena is still a school girl who needs coaching in most areas of superheroing. For instance, while she has psychic sight and a range of sensors in her eye-mask, she cannot interpret what she sees through them without Luna's help.

In conclusion, I hope that I haven't strayed too far from Naoko Takeuchi's original vision of the Pretty Girl Soldier Sailor Moon. My only intent was to fill in the blanks a little. If you'd like to see me treat other issues of the manga like that, please let me know in your review (hint, hint!).


	2. Icy Wisdom

****

A Hero is Born

A Novelisation of the second Sailor Moon manga

Original Story by Naoko Takeuchi

Adapted and Novelised by BenRG

****

Legal Disclaimer

Sailor Moon, her friends and her enemies are all the creation of the wonderful and lively Naoko-sama. I am only a devoted follower and fan. How could I ever claim to own such a wonderful story? I know my limits…

****

Book 2 – Icy Wisdom

__

Chapter 1 – Getting Used to a New Life

The alarm clock in the pink bunny-themed bedroom in the Minato-ku section of the Juubian district of Tokyo, Japan had rung and been silenced three times already. Serena Moonlight didn't care. She _didn't_ want to wake up _this_ early after having to moon-dust a rather angry, hairy and viciously clawed monster in the park last night. "Serena?" asked a familiar voice with a cut-glass English accent.

"Go 'way…" Serena murmured.

"Serena Moonlight!" the voice snapped. "I've got sixteen razor-sharp claws and I'm not afraid to use them! Now _get out of bed_! It's seven o'clock already!"

Serena opened an eye and looked up at the black cat sitting on her chest. Luna stared back at her young charge fearlessly. "I know that you must be exhausted after that fight last night, Serena, but you can't miss your lessons!"

"You are _such_ a nag, Luna!" the girl protested in a quiet wail. She covered her eyes with her arm, but it was too late. She was awake. _Well, I might as well get up if I am already awake_, she thought with a sigh. Luna looked on with a little sympathy as Serena rolled out of bed and cracked her face open with a great, jaw-dislocating yawn.

Six long weeks had passed since that amazing, life-changing day when Serena first met the black cat with the crescent moon brand on her forehead. Since then, she had faced a further four attempts by the mysterious 'Enemy' (who Luna either would not or could not identify) to steal the life force of large number of Tokyo residents. She had also had several 'minor' fights with random monsters that seemed to roam the city at night these days. Serena had learnt that there _were_ experiences worse than death and, if it were not for the astoundingly quick healing powers that her Senshi abilities gave her, she would have the scars to prove it. 

Serena, thanks to a combination of bitter combat experience and training from her guardian cat, was quickly developing into a good fighter. It was a source of some pride to the girl that she could cut a limb off a tree at a range of 200 yards with her Moon Tiara. She had also developed a little physically, thanks to a relentless program of calesthenetics (apparently developed by the army of the mysterious kingdom of which Luna claimed that she and Serena were subjects). Serena had also found that her usual tactic of whining, wailing and weeping cut absolutely no ice with her guardian. After two weeks of hiding kitty scratches from her family, she had resigned herself to her fate and had focussed on the training programme.

Luna looked on with some concern as Serena performed her morning push-ups. Serena was progressing well, despite her considerable attitude problem. However, Luna couldn't shake the feeling that there was something _wrong_ about all of this. Oh, the girl was _definitely _the Senshi of the Moon. None of her powers would work if she weren't the Chosen One of that world. However, Luna felt that she should have more knowledge of the girl's powers. She could train her to use those powers that had already manifested themselves, but she had no clue about what more advanced powers Serena had that had not yet manifested themselves. That was frustrating.

"So, Luna, you've been out and about a lot recently," Serena said as she launched into her sit-ups. "What's up?"

"I've been trying to get a fix on what the Enemy's next move will be, Serena," Luna replied. "What of you? Have you had any visions?" Among Serena's powers was Sight Beyond Sight. She could instinctively tell where the Enemy would strike next. This usually manifested itself as a fascination with something that seemed innocent but that later would turn out to be an Enemy ruse to steal people's life forces.

To Luna's surprise, Serena paused in her exercises and blushed brightly. "Um… no," she said. "Nothing about the Enemy at all." Luna looked at Serena's face closely and the girl responded by lowering her gaze shyly. "I've… I've just been having some silly dreams. That's all."

"Serena, your 'dreams' may be visions sent to you by the Goddess of the Moon. Tell me what you dream about." 

"Nothing!" Serena replied, a little _too_ loudly. "They're… just dreams. I haven't seen anything relevant at all." Serena hoped that Luna wouldn't pursue this line of questioning. She had the same dream every night now for months, and it was starting to frighten her. She was wearing a beautiful off-the-shoulder ball gown with a pearl-studded bodice. She was standing in a beautiful palace seemingly made up of a flowing silver metal. In her dreams, she had always been calling out to her prince to save her. And her 'prince' was Tuxedo Mask, the mysterious formal-suited warrior of the night who had saved her life on many occasions. In her dream, she heard her voice calling out to the man, naming him 'Endymion' and begging for him to find the 'Silver Imperium Crystal,' whatever that was. One other detail: Tuxedo Mask called her his 'princess'.

Serena was willing to dismiss the dreams as just a teenage fantasy (after all, Tuxedo Mask was _sooo _dreamy and handsome, so why _shouldn't_ she have dreams about him?). However, she had the same dream every night and it was so _real_ that she was certain that if she just reached out she could brush some of that unruly raven-black hair from his face…

What made Serena doubly unwilling to discuss these dreams with Luna was the suspicion that the little cat felt towards the masked hero. She kept insisting that anyone outside the Senshi team was not to be trusted. Serena disagreed with Luna's paranoia, but didn't feel like receiving a lecture from the cat on the subject, so she kept her peace. However, she could _feel _that Tuxedo Mask was trustworthy. It wasn't just that he had saved her life on at least four occasions. When he held her in his arms, she felt so completely and utterly _safe_ and at ease. Surely she would sense it if he were evil?

"Serena, honey? Are you up?" Ilene called from outside the bedroom. "Darling, it's half-past seven already!" Serena blushed. She had been doing pull-ups on a bar she had fixed in one corner of her bedroom. She had been so involved in remembering her dream that she had just been hanging there for ten minutes like a sun-struck gibbon.

"Just a moment mom!" she squeaked urgently. "I'm not dressed yet!" Luna watched as Serena rushed across the room to her wardrobe, youthful muscles flowing under her perfect alabaster skin with understated strength and unknown promise for the future. The girl threw on her school uniform and paused for a moment to attach the Moon Prism Brooch to the centre of the bow before heading downstairs for a much-abbreviated breakfast. As she descended, she pinned her hair up into its' distinctive 'ondango' style that she liked so much.

A few minutes later, Serena was sprinting down the streets towards her school. She actually had completed her Literature homework assignment (although she hoped that Miss H wouldn't question the Youma blood splattered on the bottom of the third page – don't ask). As Serena charged down the street with Luna running alongside her, she allowed her mind to drift slightly towards Tuxedo Mask. _He is so handsome and valiant_, she thought dreamily. _I wouldn't be surprised if he _were_ a prince. *Sigh* If only he would stick around after a battle. I would love to get to know him better… _"WHOOF!" Serena dodged around the last corner separating her from her school and collided with a tall figure in a green blazer. "Goman nasai sir," she blurted out as she staggered to her feet, bowing humbly to the man she had just knocked from his feet. "I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you…? Oh no. It's _you_ again!"

Darien Shields grinned as he stood up. He tested each limb carefully before turning to the pretty, blonde ondango-haired girl who had just sent him flying through the air. _Nothing broken, Kami be praised. Ah! Usagi-chan, you are better than a cup of coffee to wake a man up in the morning!_ He smiled in his best 'charming devil' style. If you asked him why he felt the need to tease a 14-year-old girl, he would shrug. It just felt so _right_ to do so. "Ah! Ondango Atama," he said. "Late for school again, ne?"

Serena scowled. Since the test paper incident outside of OSA-P six weeks ago, this had been happening with depressing regularity. She would run into Darien Shields and he would mock, in the same order, her hairdo, her tardiness and her academic performance. Nothing she could do would make him quit or scare him off. She would suspect him of stalking her if it wasn't for the fact that she _knew_ it was a coincidence. He walked this way to Azabu High, his school, and he was at the Crown Café after school because Andrew was his best friend and, naturally, he wanted to visit him. "It's 'Serena' you impossible baka!" Serena snapped at Darien, who was grinning in an infuriating way. "Are you so stupid that you can't remember a girl's name?"

"Of course I can remember it," Darien said with an expression of hurt dignity. "It's 'Ondango Atama'."

Serena made a strangled sound of fury before picking up her book bag from where it fell. "Whatever," she snapped. "If you can't remember my name, that's your problem… and maybe your doctor's… not mine."

Darien winced. _Ouch_, he thought. _Her comebacks are getting razor sharp_._ Maybe I shouldn't tease her, but seeing the fire in her eyes is an addictive experience_. "Don't you think you should be going?" he asked. "You'll be late for school."

"Thanks for the heads-up, Baka," Serena replied. "If I am late, it will be because _you_ don't look out for people in a hurry!" 

"Maybe if you tried to get up earlier, you wouldn't need to _be_ in a hurry," Darien countered with a devil-may-care grin. He winked and turned to go. "Run along now, little Ondango." 

Serena snorted angrily and turned to storm off. "You know," she said with a sudden inspiration. "I'm glad that we have these little talks."

That shocked Darien into paralysis. _She likes me! YES! Thank you Kami-sama!_ "You… you are?" he blurted. _Oh yeah! Really smooth Dare! Why don't you impress her a bit more with your calm coherence?_

"Yes," Serena replied. She turned back to the tall black-haired young man with the sad blue eyes and the killer body. "It reminds me that my life could be so much worse. I could be _you_." Serena winked flirtatiously and walked off. _Woah! Why did I do that? He's the guy who teases me at least twice a day since I met him outside Molly-chan's place. I don't want to encourage him… although he is dreamy… No! Bad Bunny! Remember that you want Tuxedo Mask, not Darien-baka!_

Darien stood there with his mouth open. _You don't know how right you are, my beautiful, carefree little rabbit_, he thought. Then he shook his head firmly. _Woah, partner! She's not 'your' anything! Too many collisions and not enough coffee!_ He waved to Serena as she jogged away. "Sayonara, Ondango Atama!" he called. "Don't kill anyone with your klutz attacks!"

"Sayonara, Baka!" Serena replied over her shoulder. "Hope that you get a life soon!" The girl grinned as she sped up, winked again and _blew Darien a kiss_. "See ya! Same time, same place, same bump!"

Darien stood paralysed again for a moment. He touched his lips as if she had kissed him for real. _She is the sunlight personified_, he realised. _One day, I will be brave enough to tell her that. Until then, I will keep teasing her, so long as I can share in a little of that warmth. _Darien shook his head. _Romance with Ondango Atama, the human alarm siren and one-girl demolition crew? Yeah, right!_

***

In a dark, cold place, both near to and far, far away from the two squabbling teenagers, a man with short blond hair and icy-blue eyes was standing in an audience chamber. Surrounded by dark creatures of evil and the night, he listened as his liege-lady addressed him. "General Jadeite," a cool, feminine voice called out from the cup-shaped granite throne in the centre of the room. "You have yet to have found the Silver Imperium Crystal. Explain yourself."

Jadeite licked his lips a bit nervously. "My queen," he began, "we have encountered a new enemy. Combating this warrior has greatly slowed the pace of our operations…. I am truly sorry." At the conclusion of this report, Jadeite bowed low, a hand touching his heart in a gesture of sincerity.

"Spare me your snivelling apologies," the Dark Queen hissed. "Find the Silver Imperium Crystal and continue to gather energy for our Master. These should be your only concerns. If this 'enemy' of yours interferes, then _destroy them_!"

"My pleasure," Jadeite said with a sick grin. "As First General of the Dark Kingdom, I shall not fail you, Majesty. The Silver Imperium Crystal will be ours, and if this 'Sailor Moon' continues to interfere, I will kill her myself." The general turned to leave his queen's presence with a flourish of his cape.

The quiet voice from underneath the stone canopy of the Dark Throne spoilt Jadeite's grand, sweeping exit. "See that you have success to report the next time that you come before me, General," the queen said. "Remember that my patience is not limitless."

***

It was 5:00pm and Serena barged in through the front door of her home. "Hi, Mom! I'm home!" Serena was in a great mood. Today had gone very well. A pleasantly surprised Haruna-sensei had given her a 60 for her homework, the resulting C grade marking a new peak in Serena's academic performance. The mark might have even been higher if Serena had written the report about a classic piece of Japanese literature, instead of the latest collected edition of the 'Ranma ½' manga. To reward the girl's hard work, Miss H had graciously overlooked the fact that the girl had been five minutes late for the start of school and had let her out at 3:30 with the rest of class. 

Serena had spent a glorious hour in the company of Andy-onii-san at the Crown Café and had set a new record for the 'Sailor V Fighter' game. That game fascinated her for reasons that she couldn't understand. It was obviously very sophisticated. Every time she played it, the monsters and the puzzles became harder to beat, challenging her to stretch her wits and her hand-to-eye co-ordination every time she played it. She even found some of the missions of use to her in the work of her alter ego, Sailor Moon. When she used that excuse to Luna, who had demanded to know why her charge was wasting her time on a video game, the cat had just snorted and walked away, muttering about 'air-headed blondes'. Even (literally) running into Darien-baka at the Café hadn't ruined her mood. Besides… she kind of liked arguing with him. It was a highlight of her day (as sad as that was).

"Hi sweetie!" Ilene called from the kitchen. She had noticed the sudden change in her daughter over the last month. Serena's grades still remained low, but she occasionally had actually managed to get her test grades over 50%. The girl seemed a little more responsible and was easier to wake up in the morning. Maybe that little talk they had six weeks ago had done some good after all. On the other hand, maybe Serena was learning responsibility from having someone to care for. As Ilene thought about that, Serena's pet cat followed her mistress through the front door. Ilene chuckled as she noted the cat's distinctive feature. She leaned over to pick up the cat. "And hello to you, crescent-moon-bald-spotted kitty!" The moment she said that, the cat blurred into motion and tried to scratch her face off.

Somehow, Ilene managed to throw the rabid, mangy monster away from her without being _too_ badly injured. "Serena!" she snapped. "You _have_ to do something with that cat! She's half-wild!"

"Mom, her name is 'Luna'," Serena said quietly. "She doesn't like people saying that she has a bald spot on her head."

Ilene looked at her daughter in a strange way. The way that Serena had said that, it was almost as if the girl _really believed_ that the cat understood what she had said and had preferences as to what people called her. Ridiculous! "Whatever," she said. "In any case, if you can't control her, I'll have her de-clawed! Do you understand?"

Serena rolled her eyes at her mother's vehemence. She thought that her mom was getting upset over nothing. So what if Luna had scratched her a few times? She should try having a Slash Youma (the name that Serena used to identify the furry sloth-like monsters that she sometimes fought at night in the park) try to disembowel her! _That_ was something about which to get mad! She stood up and walked up the stairs. "And where are you going, young lady?" Ilene asked. She hadn't even served up dinner yet!

"I'm… er… going to do my homework, Mom," Serena replied. This stunned Ilene and Sammy into silence. _Serena… doing her homework?!?_

***

Upstairs, Serena booted up her NEC-built PC. She quickly accessed MS Word and opened a password-protected file called 'Bunny_SM.DOC' (Password: 'I_LUV_DARIEN-BAKA'). She looked at the first page of her computerised journal, which she had been keeping for six weeks now.

3 3 3

**__**

From the Journal of Serena Caroline Moonlight

Hi, Diary!

My name is Serena, but everyone calls me 'Bunny.' I'm 14 years old and I'm in the 8th Grade at school. My hobbies are eating, sleeping and reading Manga. I guess that I am a bit klutzy, and I cry very easily, but I'm really just a regular cute little girl.

At least I was_ until the day before I started keeping this journal._

I met a black cat with a crescent-moon-shaped mark on her head. Her name is 'Luna'. Because of her, I became Sailor Moon, the pretty-girl soldier and Champion of Love and Justice. Ooh! It is so_ annoying! There are lots of things that I would rather be doing rather than training in hand-to-hand combat…_

3 3 3

Serena looked up as her bedroom door creaked open. Luna peeked in and stared up at her ward in a significant way. "Luna, are you spying on me?" Serena asked, her pretty face twisted angrily.

Luna managed to look offended at even the suggestion of spying. "Of course not!" she said hurriedly. "Serena, you are still very much a novice. If you want to be a successful Champion of Love and Justice, we must continue to train. We have to learn more about your powers and help you use them more effectively."

Serena sighed. "More training!" she groaned. "I don't wanna, Luna," she continued in a slight wail. "Why do I hafta?"

"If you are to be prepared to face the Enemy…" Luna began on 'lecture' mode.

"NO!" Serena threw her hands into the air. "No more enemies, Luna! I can't handle this! I'm so scared all of the time! I just want to go back to just being normal, boring, Bunny!" The girl began to cry piteously and buried her face in her folded arms on her study desk.

__

Cry-baby! Luna thought dismissively. She couldn't blame Serena for being scared. The girl would have to be insane not to be scared, but she _really_ needed to shape up. The cat jumped up onto the desk and stroked Serena's cheek with her head. "Serena, I know that you are scared," she said gently. "But you must remember that you are the world's only hope. You and your sister Senshi are the only ones who can beat the Enemy and stop them from destroying all life on the Earth."

Serena was still crying, silently now, and sobbing a little, but she knew that Luna was right. That was the most awful part of this. All her life, Serena had worked to avoid things that she didn't want to do, using tears and the ever-reliable 'dewy-eyed-puppy' look. However, she couldn't avoid this unwelcome task. "Who is the 'Enemy', Luna?" she asked, not expecting any more useful a reply than she had received before.

"Not human, but you guessed that, didn't you Serena?" Luna replied. "The Enemy are a force of pure evil, something that should not… that _cannot _exist in our world if life as we know it is to continue." The cat sighed and began to pace. "We have to find your four sister Senshi and the Princess," Luna said, almost to herself. "You will need the other Senshi to back you up. You've done well up to now, but there is a limit to what you can achieve on your own. And only the Princess has the power to seal the evil away forever."

Serena had finally stopped crying and was looking out of her bedroom window in a meditative way. "A princess… wow…" she said dreamily. "I bet she is so beautiful…"

"Beautiful, graceful, loving and strong of heart," Luna confirmed gently. "I have some… nebulous memories of her, Serena. She is the very avatar of love. Just being around her makes you feel warm inside."

Serena smiled. "That sounds nice," she said. Luna's description of the Princess caught Serena's attention. 'Just being around her makes you feel warm inside.' _That is exactly how I feel about Tuxedo Mask_, she thought. Suddenly she sat upright. "Hey! What about Tuxedo Mask and Sailor V?" she asked Luna. "Maybe they are two of the missing Senshi?"

Luna frowned, her lips narrowed to a dangerous line when she heard the name of the mysterious stranger that had interfered in several of Serena's missions thus far. "Well… I don't know anything about this 'Sailor V'," Luna said. "I really can't say, although she certainly _sounds_ like a Senshi, assuming that she is still alive. She hasn't been seen since shortly before your first mission, if you remember." Luna shrugged. "As for Tuxedo Mask… well, you know that I don't trust him very much. I don't think that he is a Senshi either. He hasn't demonstrated any special powers at all." Luna jumped into her ward's lap and let the girl stroke her, making her feel very good. "Actually, I think I _may_ have a lead on one of the other Senshi."

"Who do you think she is, Luna?" Serena asked.

Luna's face took on a mysterious aspect. "I don't want to say just yet," she replied. "Let me research this a bit more."

**__**

Chapter 2 – Girl Genius

That night, as Serena lay sleeping, Luna was in a hidden room not too far away from the girl's house. Surrounded by astonishingly sophisticated computers and other machinery, she was working on the profile of a young woman that she had been watching for some time now. After Serena, this girl had been the second most likely candidate to be a Senshi, and now Luna wanted to follow up that lead.

She briefly took a moment to read the information on the computer monitor before her.

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****

Name: Amy Marina Anderson

****

Residence: Mugen Delta, Juubian District, Tokyo

****

Age: 14 years

****

Date of Birth: 10 September 1978

****

Astrological Sign (Babylonian): Virgo

****

Blood Type: A

3 3 3

Luna looked at the picture of the girl on the screen. She was about Serena's height and had a round, friendly face. The girl's eyes reflected her good nature and a certain amount of loneliness. What caught Luna's attention, however, was her eyes and hair. Her eyes were the colour of ice, so pale blue that they were nearly white. Moreover, her hair, although a standard oriental black, had odd highlights in it that made it look… _blue_.

Luna sucked in a deep breath. _By the Heart of Selene!_ She thought. _She is the living image of young Amidala! Could she _really _be…?_ The black cat shook her head. Speculation was useless. Starting tomorrow, she and Serena would start investigating this Amy Anderson in depth. Then they would see if this girl really _was_ more than she appeared to the casual gaze.

***

As it turned out, Serena and Luna did not have to look very far to find their quarry. Next morning, there was Amy Anderson, as large as life, walking quietly through the playground at Juubian Junior High as she read a textbook of some kind. Although the girl was still wearing the green-on-scarlet uniform of the exclusive Mugen Academy for Gifted Children, the gossip-mongers amongst the students were telling anyone who wanted to listen that this would change.

Serena stood leaning against the old Sakura tree, Luna curled up on top of her head, as she listened to Molly, Loraine, Brandy and Melvin talking about the newcomer. "Her name is Amy Anderson," Melvin was saying. "I hear incredible things about her. Her IQ is over 235. MENSA don't know exactly what it is because she keeps on getting better-than-perfect scores on IQ tests and the IQ scale doesn't go high enough."

Molly was suitably impressed. "Wow!" she said. "So what is she doing coming _here_?" Serena leaned closer. She wanted to know the answer too.

"Apparently her mother, she's a famous doctor, thinks that Mugen Academy is too academic," Melvin replied. "She wants her daughter to have an education in the real world." No one was surprised that he knew that. Melvin seemed to know _every_ bit of gossip, no matter how unlikely it was that he should have heard it.

"I heard that she aced all the national tests," Brandy cut in. "She's, like, number one nation wide! She's unreal! Apparently she got better-than-perfect scores on all her mock tests!"

"Wow… a girl genius…" Serena murmured, taking all of this in. Suddenly, she realised something. "You know, she looks like Demi Moore," she said. "The _old_ Demi, I mean. The pre-GI Jane version."

She had been standing there so quietly that the other four at the bench under the old tree jumped in surprise. "Oh! Hi, Bunny-chan!" Molly said. "Gee… you're on time for once! Good job!"

Serena rolled her eyes. "I _can_ get here on time if I want to," she insisted. She shook her head and decided to put the conversation on track. All Luna had told her was that Amy was 'special' and they had to find out what her secret was. "So, how does she get so smart?" she asked. "I mean, she looks like a regular girl to me!"

"It might be the cram school she goes to," Melvin suggested. "Have you heard of Crystal Academy? It's in the centre of town."

"You mean the snobby place opposite the arcade?" Loraine asked.

Melvin nodded in agreement. Serena pursed her lips in thought. "Her mom must be rich!" she said. "Daddy said that the tuition fees from Crystal Academy are huge!" _Which is a good thing,_ she added silently, _or I think I would be going there too_.

"Smart and rich," Molly sighed. "It isn't fair."

"Well she hasn't got it all," Loraine interrupted in a haughty tone of voice. "I hear that the 'girl genius' is a real snob. She doesn't have any friends and never hangs out. All she ever does is study!"

Serena watched as the girl walked through the playground, noticing the clear empty space that surrounded her wherever she went. "Maybe being smart has its' price, Lori-chan," she suggested quietly.

***

Eight hours later, the students of Juubian Junior High were scattering to their homes. It was only because Miss H had a hot date tonight that Serena wasn't still sitting in her homeroom for an hour's detention. She had received her mock test scores too. As much as she wished that she could have better-than-perfect marks like Amy, the numbers that stared back at her from the computer print-out in her hands were far more pedestrian.

English 45 D 1.2

History 22 F 0.8

Home Economics 50 C- 1.6

Japanese Language 55 C- 1.8

Japanese Literature 40 D- 1.0

Mathematics 15 F 0.5

Sciences 05 F 0.2

-- ---

Average grade D- 1.0

--- ---

Serena sighed as she looked at her grades. "Mom will freak out when she sees these marks, Luna," she said. "I _can't_ show them to her! She'll come down on me like a collapsing high-rise!" Tears had started to roll down the girl's face, a sure sign of an incipient eruption of weeping and wailing. 

"I hate to say it, Serena, but I told you so," Luna remarked from her comfortable nest on the girl's head. "You have never studied enough. I know that you try your hardest, but you must learn to concentrate harder and not be so easily distracted."

"Luna!" Serena wailed, firmly set on a course to hysteria, "you are so _mean_! Is it so bad that I want a little fun?"

"Yes, when you are supposed to be doing your homework rather than finding out what Ranma and Akane are doing this month!" Luna replied. "You need to _focus_ girl!"

Serena was about to wail another protest at the slave driver that was masquerading as a cat on her head, when she saw a familiar figure in a scarlet and green school uniform. "Hey, it's the girl genius!" Serena said, her tears suddenly forgotten. "She's on her own again! I wonder where she is going?"

"Why don't you ask?" Luna replied. "I'll handle the introductions." With that, the little cat leapt from Serena's head and landed on Amy's head, making the other girl cry out in fear and surprise, dropping her attaché case. 

"Luna!" Serena hissed as loudly as she dared, but it was too late. The cat had climbed off Amy's head and into the dark-haired girl's arms.

Amy blinked at the cat that had literally jumped into her arms. "Oh, hello," she said in a kind if rather precise voice. "You scared me little kitty. Where did you come from?" She began to stroke Luna's cheeks, making the cat purr loudly in pleasure. "I wish that mom would let me keep a pet like you, kitty. You're so soft and warm…." She cuddled the purring cat as close as she could, caressing her soft cheeks. Luna seemed far gone in a world of pleasure. "Yes, you are lovely," Amy said in a loving tone of voice.

Serena smiled. _So, the 'girl genius' isn't a snob, she's just lonely_, Serena concluded. "Luna!" she called out aloud. The guardian cat shot her ward a significant look before leaping back into her arms. "Hi, I'm Serena, but you can call me 'Bunny'," she said. "I hope Luna didn't hurt you!"

"Oh! That's your cat!" Amy said. "No she didn't. She's an angel!"

Serena shot her guardian a cynical look. "So you're an angel, huh, Luna?" she murmured in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Luna rolled her eyes and looked away in offended dignity. "Some people recognise class when they see it," she quietly replied.

Amy, meanwhile, had begun to blush an almost radish shade of red. "Oh… er… I'll be off then, Serena-san," she said.

"No, don't go, it's alright!" Serena called out. Amy stopped and turned around to face Serena again, looking a bit worried. "Do you have to rush off?" Serena asked.

"Well… no…" Amy replied uncertainly.

With the usual power of 'Typhoon Bunny', Serena grabbed Amy by the arm and began to propel her towards the Crown. "In that case, would you like to hang out with me for a while? I know this cool place called the Crown Café. They serve the best ice cream in Tokyo, _and_ you can play the coolest video games on Earth!" Serena paused and looked into Amy's panic-stricken eyes. "You _can_ play video games, can't you?" 

"Er… no, Serena-san…" Amy responded, blushing in a combination of embarrassment and shame while trying to break contact with Serena's eyes.

"That's cool," Serena responded. "I'll show you how to do it. Come on! One evening of fun won't kill ya!" Amy made a half-hearted attempt to drag her heels, but something about Serena's open and friendly expression, and the other girl's amazing sense of being alive and happy, overwhelmed her desire to remain quiet and inconspicuous. With a sudden laugh, she stopped resisting and began to run alongside the blonde girl whose cat had accosted her in the streets, suddenly feeling _free _for no reason that she could understand. "And call me 'Bunny'!" Serena added as they both ran down the street.

__

Maybe if I become Amy's friend, she can tell me her secret, Serena thought with devilish glee. _Then _I'll_ be the one who gets straight-As on all her tests_! Luna watched with a secret smile as the two girls rushed off hand-in-hand before running off to the Crown Café by way of the short cuts that only a cat could know and use. She had to make some preparations before Serena and Amy arrived.

***

Very soon, Amy was watching enthralled as Serena mowed through the monsters of the first level on 'Sailor-V Fighter'. The blonde girl's body language was amusing to follow. It was clear that she was entirely 'into' the game. She was twisting and jerking unconsciously as she followed the action on the screen. Amy watched carefully, cataloguing how moving the two joysticks made the sprite of Sailor V move and what combination of buttons executed what attack. "You are very good at this game Bunny," Amy said levelly.

"You think?" Serena asked without turning from the screen. "I think that I suck. This game is too hard for me!" As she said this, Sailor V got splattered by a monster that looked like a boulder with arms and legs. "Nuts! Yeah, I want to continue alright!" Serena slammed another token into the machine before thumping the 'continue' button.

It couldn't last, however. Serena soon got as far as she could, facing more and more powerful monsters that called for far faster reflexes than she had to offer. She sighed as Sailor V was swallowed by what looked like a cross between an octopus and a sink garbage grinder for the third time. "Nuts," she sighed. "Well, I know when I'm beaten. How about you, Amy-chan? Do you want to try the game?"

Amy blushed at the intimate form of address, but she was too fascinated to back off. "Yes, Bunny, I do," she said. She took the stool that Serena had just vacated and put a token into the slot. 

Within moments, it was Serena who was the enthralled spectator as Amy pushed through the game further and faster than she thought possible. "Wow! Amy are you sure that you haven't played this game before?"

"I memorised your moves in the earlier levels," Amy replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "As I get more experienced, I will start adding my own moves." Serena was impressed. She didn't think such a thing was even possible, but here was Amy proving her wrong. The blonde-haired girl found herself biting her nails in reaction to the tension as the girl genius with blue hair pushed further and further through the game with consummate ease.

Amy quickly gained an audience as teenagers and adults alike crowded around the console, watching the girl's amazingly fast reactions. "Hey, give her space," Serena said, pushing a few back. "And watch where you put those hands, you hentai!" she added to one teenage boy. When she turned back to the screen, what she saw was most unfamiliar. "Amy!" she gasped. "I've never got this far on the game! I don't think anyone has!"

Amy smiled in a small, precise way but continued to focus on the game. It may have been hours before Amy finally met her match, but the audience was too entranced by her performance to notice. Serena blinked when she realised that the game was over and shook her head to clear it. Amy was entering her name in the first line of the 'High Scores' list. "You got the top high score! Amy… Kami-sama, you're _amazing_!"

There were whispers of appreciation and congratulations from other patrons of the café. Andrew came up and touched Amy's arm. "A champion girl gamer!" he said. "You did great, Miss…?"

"Amy," Amy replied. She blushed and looked away. "Did… did I really do that well?"

"Amy-chan!" Serena said. "You have done better than _anyone_! You are fantastic!" 

Amy blushed again. Suddenly the game machine bleeped for attention and a plastic hatch underneath the controls opened to reveal something vacuum-wrapped in plastic. "What's this?" she asked, pulling the package out. "I must have won a prize for getting the high score." She ripped open the plastic and looked at what she got. It was a fountain pen in a deep oceanic blue colour. In an odd touch, there was a ringed sphere like a planet at the top of the cap. "What is this, a novelty pen of some sort?" Amy asked in a befuddled tone of voice.

"You got a prize?" Serena gasped. "Amy-chan! That's so cool!" Serena thought for a moment before her mouth dropped open in anger. "Hey! I've got the high score before! How come I've never got a prize? No fair!" She suddenly started kicking the machine. "Stupid, miserly machine! Give me my prize! I… WANT… MY… PRIZE…!"

Andrew rushed over. "Bunny! Stop it! You'll break the thing!"

Serena grinned at Amy. "Watch this," she whispered. "There are ways to trigger the prize mechanism." The girl grabbed the machine and, with surprising strength, she tilted it forwards and gave it a shake. There was a rattling noise and another package dropped into the prize chute. "Yeah! Something came out!" Serena grabbed the package and began to dance around the game machines, whooping and waving her prize around.

"Bunny… stop it…!" Andrew said, wincing and looking like he could see his job evaporating before his eyes.

Bunny raised her prize to the skies like a victorious sportswoman. It was another fountain pen, this one a pale blue-white colour. Instead of a ringed sphere, its' cap was surmounted with a shining gem. _Probably just plastic_, Serena thought. However, plastic doesn't usually shine like that. "This is so kawaii," she sighed. To her surprise, she could hear giggling coming from beside her.

"Bunny, you are so funny," Amy said, giggling and looking at the other girl with affection and joy flashing in her normally-calm blue eyes.

Serena laughed. "Never on purpose," she said in a mock tone of offence. She grinned and knelt beside Amy, who was still sitting in front of the Sailor-V Fighter game. "So how about it, Amy-chan? Haven't I shown you a good time? Do you want to be friends?" Serena cocked her head in a happy, friendly way and winked at the blushing Amy.

"I… I would like that… Bunny-chan," the blue-haired girl said quietly. She was a bit shocked to suddenly be engulfed in Serena's arms. Amy hugged her new… her _first_ friend tightly, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks and onto the other girl's blouse.

After a moment, Amy opened her eyes and gasped when she saw the clock on the wall. "Oh no!" she said. "I'm late for class!"

"You mean the cram school, don't you?" Serena replied, looking at the clock too. "What days to you go?"

Amy blinked at Serena as if the other girl had suddenly turned green. "Every day of course."

"_Every day_?" Serena parroted in shock. She barely noticed as Luna jumped up into her arms. 

"Well, of course," Amy said. "I have to study if I am to be a doctor like my mother!" Amy kissed the stunned Serena on the cheek, gave Luna a tickle under the chin, picked up her attaché case and walked out of the arcade.

"She wants to be a doctor! That's awesome!" Serena said to herself, much impressed.

"You know what _I_ think is awesome?" Darien asked. Serena turned to look at him. "I think it is awesome that a brilliant young lady like that would associate with you, Ondango Atama." Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Darien winced internally. _Baka! Why are you insulting her?_

Serena's blue eyes filled with sapphire fire for a few moments. Her fist snapped up towards his face, making Darien jump back. When the boy realised she wasn't going to hit him, he stared at the extended limb, watching in horror as her index finger slowly raised from the fist to point to the sky. Then Serena swung around and stormed out of the café.

"Did you see that?" Darien blurted. "She gave me the finger, Andrew! She told me to talk to the hand!"

"What do you expect, baka?" Andrew sighed as he walked over to his best friend. "You aren't off her case for one moment and now you are trying to drag her friends into it too. Take my advice and lay off her if you don't want to end up with her dad imposing a restraining order on you!"

__

Maybe I should, Darien thought, _but I don't know if I _can_!_ The young man shook his head. He didn't know if his love life could get more pathetic. He had a dream princess who haunted his every sleeping moment, Sailor Moon, a mysterious masked superheroine who had caught his imagination during her battles against the monsters plaguing Tokyo… and now he was feeling attracted to Serena Moonlight. _Ugh! No! _he thought firmly. _You _aren't_ interested in Ondango Atama. Even Sailor Moon is a step too far! Remember your princess!_ A thoroughly confused and demoralised Darien threw a hundred yen on the table to pay for his coffee and slouched off, back to his hauntingly empty apartment.

***

That evening, Amy was deep in thought as she sat in front of the PC along with twenty other young people in one of the classrooms at Crystal Academy. Her tutor, Professor Black, walked up behind her and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Amy shuddered. Whenever the woman touched her, she had an urge to scream or hit her to make her let go. 

"You know, I'm very pleased with your progress, Anderson-san," Black said in a smooth voice. Amy turned to look at the supernaturally perfect blonde woman, noting the slightly _lupine_ nature of her smile. "We need intelligent young people like you to build tomorrow's world. Everyone else is just trying to keep up with you." The woman smirked and walked off.

Amy rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling unaccountably cold. "Thank you, Black-sensei," she said quietly, not feeling any of the positive glow that should come with such praise.

**__**

Chapter 3 – Cram School Sucks!

Next day, Serena, Molly and their classmates were changing back into their uniforms after the end of double Gym at the end of the school day. All of them were in a good mood, because they were free for another day. "Say, are you guys going to the Crown today?" Molly asked. "I have a need for ice cream!"

"Yeah!" came the reply from several giggling girls. 

To everyone's surprise, Brandy snorted and turned around to leave. "Not me," she said in a strangely toneless voice. "I have better things to do with my time…" The girl strode off, looking as if she wasn't entirely awake.

Serena lowered her isotonic drink to stare in Brandy's wake. "What's up with her?" she asked.

"I don't know," Molly said quietly. "Ever since her parents signed her up for cram school, Brandy has started getting all snobby. It is as if she doesn't want to hang out anymore!"

"You mean that she is going to Crystal Academy too?" Serena asked.

Loraine nodded severely. "Yeah, lots of the guys are going there now," she said. "They give each of their students their own PC and they use some kind of learning program on a floppy disc. Brandy says that it is totally fun to use, but I say that I spend enough time in school already!"

Serena watched Loraine and Molly leave the girl's locker room, thinking hard. _A disc? That's odd. It can't be that big an application to fit on a floppy disc. I wonder what it is like?_

***

In the school's A/V Laboratory, Amy was trying to revise for tonight's lessons at Crystal Academy. As always, she was trying to get a few chapters ahead of her classmates, not out of a desire to be first amongst her peers, but out of a desire to perform well and achieve her dreams. Right now, however, she wasn't able to concentrate.

With a growl, the girl tore off her reading glasses and began to massage her forehead. "I've never felt so tired," she groaned. "My head feels… stuffy… as if something were trying to get out!" If she had her eyes open, she would have seen the dirty grey-green light that was rising from the monitor and trying to _burrow into_ her forehead, only to be repelled by an icy blue-white light coming from her forehead.

Suddenly Amy sat up and reached for the computer, firmly ejecting the floppy disc from the 'A' drive. The moment that she did so, the green light disappeared. "It's no good," she announced to the empty classroom. "I can't get the hang of this 'miracle disc' method. I'll stick to taking good old fashioned notes." With that, Amy pulled out her novelty fountain pen and began to write in a notebook.

Suddenly the door burst open and Serena charged in. The girl was still wearing her gym slip with a pink sweatshirt over it. "Hey! Amy-chan!" she called. Amy's head snapped up and she stared at the blonde whirlwind that had just rushed into the room. "What's up?" Serena continued. "Like, classes are over! Why are you still here?" Amy opened her mouth to reply, but she didn't get the chance. "Hey! You're using your pen? That's cool! So am I!" Serena pointed to the crystal-topped pen sitting in the breast pocket of her sweatshirt.

"That's nice, Bunny-chan," Amy said. "I'm just finishing off the next module in my cram school curriculum," she continued.

"Yeah?" Serena said. "That's great! No point you spending your evening there if you've already done it! Molly and the rest of us guys are going to the Crown for ice cream! Do you want to go too?"

Suddenly, Serena was almost knocked from her feet by two students walking down the hall. Like Brandy, there was something _dead_ about their motions and about their voices. "Excuse me," one muttered, "but we have to get to Crystal."

Amy watched them for a moment and remembered the professor telling her that everyone else was trying to catch her up. She was an example to them, she supposed, and she couldn't skip a lesson, even if she had already done it. "Not really, Bunny-chan," she said. "I really have to go to Crystal Academy too."

Serena watched Amy go, noticing the exhaustion in the other girl's posture and voice. Something was up and she didn't like it. She wished for a moment that she was in her fighting armour so that she could use the sensors in her mask. There was a meow from beside her, so she knelt and stroked Luna as they watched Amy walk down the hall. "Luna, I'm worried about Amy," she said. "She just totally blew me off to go to that cram school, even though she's already finished today's lessons. I think that she studies _way _too hard!" The girl noticed the way Luna was looking at her and sighed. "Yeah, and I guess that I should study harder too…"

Serena stood up and noticed something sitting on Amy's desk. "Hey! Amy must have dropped this!" She picked up the floppy disc and had to drop it again. "_Ow_! It's white hot!" She touched the disc experimentally and, this time, she didn't notice any heat. "This is getting _too_ weird," she announced. "Luna," she declared, picking at her lip in worry, "I want to check out this 'Crystal Academy'."

***

Outside the building containing Crystal Academy, a crowd was surrounding Professor Black as she handed out flyers to passers-by. "Hurry, hurry!" the blonde woman in a scandalously tight blouse and short skirt that screamed 'predator' was calling out. "Sign up is free for a limited period! Learn the secret method!" The woman thrust a flyer into Serena's hands as the girl wandered closer.

Serena read the advert quickly. "Hey! Dig this! They are using Amy for their advertisements!" she announced, pointing to the blue-haired girl's photo. "'New Crystal Disc'," Serena read, noting that a copy of the disc in question was attached to the flyer. "'Feel the power! Become a genius like Amy Anderson!'" Serena snorted. "Well, all I can say is that I hope they are paying Amy-chan for the use of her face and name!"

"Maybe you should take up the offer," Luna said from on top of Serena's head in a snide tone. "You could certainly benefit from studying a bit harder."

Serena rolled her eyes upwards. "Luna-sensei," she said, thinking of the strangely _blank_ look on Brandy's face, "I think that the price might be a bit high." With that she screwed up the flyer and threw it carelessly over her shoulder.

"Ow!" shouted a familiar voice. "That is the second time, Ondango Atama! Are you trying to tell me something?"

"You again?" Serena shouted at Darien. "Yeah, I am trying to tell you something; _Bug out_!"

Darien smirked. "Are you sure you want to throw this away?" he asked in a mocking tone of voice, waving the flyer. "I think that you need to study. You might start getting better than 40 on your tests!"

Serena snorted, noticing that the man had raised his eyebrow in a mocking way. "No thanks, Baka," she replied. "You take the course. You might learn how to remember my name!" Her rebuff delivered, she turned to storm off, only to be halted by Darien touching her shoulder gently. She almost dissolved on the spot. _Kami-sama! There is so much power in his touch…! I… I just want to kiss him…!_

Darien seemed affected by whatever it was for a moment too. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them inside his vomit green blazer. "Er… Serena…" he said, shocking the girl by using her real given name. "Shoot me down if this sounds crazy but… Did I just hear your cat _talk_?"

Serena went bright red. "WHAT?" she shrieked. "Uh… Of course not! Hehehe! You have spent too much time in the sun, Baka! Cats can't talk!" With that the girl literally _ran_ off, a massive drop of sweat on the side of her face and, comically, on the side of her cat's face too. "That was a close one, Luna!" Serena hissed to her guardian as she fled. "Only talk when we're alone from now on!"

Darien watched her go. _Maybe she is right_, he thought. _Maybe I _have_ spent too much time in the sun… Either that or her beauty is affecting my brains… Woah! Scary thoughts, Dare! Back to business!_ Suddenly, Professor Black thrust a flyer into his face. 

"Here!" she announced. "You have one too!"

"No thanks," Darien replied, waving the flyer that Serena had thrown into his face. "I've already got one."

***

Serena sat in front of her PC looking at the disc that Amy had dropped earlier that day. "This is one of these Crystal Discs," Luna said. "I've adjusted your PC with extra powerful anti-virus heuristics and logic shields. It should be safe to run it on your PC, even if there are nasty surprises hidden in the files."

Serena nodded and pushed the disc into her PC's 'A' drive. Touching the mouse, she selected 'My Computer' and then '3½" Floppy Disc'. Finally, she selected a program called 'CRYSTAL.EXE'. A window appeared and Serena watched as lines of code and the occasional bright animated graphic appeared in the window. "Well, if this is the miracle learning tool, I'm a little disappointed," she said sarcastically.

"Your PC is searching the program for hidden malicious code," Luna explained. "It wouldn't really look like this at all. What you are seeing is the background activity in the program. As you can see, its' data files are remarkably compressed. I was unaware that archiving technology was so advanced!"

"Oh," Serena said. She wished that she had understood more than a tenth of that.

Suddenly the PC squealed a warning. 'Warning!' the screen declared. 'Malicious code detected: Hidden graphical routine to generate Alpha-wave cycling lights on monitor.' Then another window opened and the script of a series of sound files appeared. 'You shall obey!' Serena read. 'You shall become a slave of the Great Master and the Dark Kingdom! Gather all information that will lead your leaders to the Silver Imperium Crystal!'

"Kami-sama!" Serena gasped.

Luna was just as shocked. "It is a brainwashing program!" she cried out. "The enemy is using it to turn students into spies to locate the Silver Imperium Crystal!"

"And what is that?" Serena asked, looking at Luna. The way that the cat kept so many secrets from her infuriated her.

…

Darien's eyebrow quirked in interest. He had used his IT skills to disassemble the code of the 'Crystal Disc' that Black had given to him earlier. He wasn't as surprised as he could be when he noted the hidden brainwashing subroutines.

…

Serena ran down the street towards the town centre. As she arrived, she saw the dozens of young people and adults marching towards Crystal Academy, their faces blank and their movements like those of the zombies she had fought in Molly's mother's shop six weeks ago. "Oh no, they've all been brainwashed!" she cried. She saw a familiar blue-haired figure amongst the horde. "And they got Amy too! Luna, I have to help her!"

"You can't go in as you are, that would raise too many suspicions," Luna declared. "Use your pen." Serena took out her pen and looked at it questioningly. "It is part of a Sailor Senshi's standard equipment," the cat explained. "It can generate high-fidelity magical illusions. They are so perfect that they look, sound, smell, touch and taste entirely real!" Serena looked at Luna in puzzlement and the cat rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Kami give me strength! It makes disguises, okay? Wave it over your head, shout 'Disguise Power' and what you want to be disguised as, okay?"

Serena shrugged. "Okay, but you are going to tell me how this got into the Sailor V machine later, okay?" Serena raised the pen, noting that its' jewel was suddenly glowing with the signature colour of her power. "Disguise Power!" she declared. "Transform me into…" she paused for a moment before she realised what she wanted to be. "Transform me into a _doctor_!"

There was a blinding blue-white flash of light and Serena was briefly aware of ribbons of energy coalescing into a shape around her. Luna looked up in some surprise to see Serena, suddenly six inches taller and looking in her early 30s, dressed in a _very_ sexy one-piece white doctor's smock which barely covered her thighs. Serena laughed at the way the cat's eyes bulged out of their sockets. She pulled a stethoscope from her pocket and put it around her neck. "It's time for Doctor Bunny to make a house-call," she announced. "Stay with me and stay out of sight, Luna."

The guy manning the reception desk in Crystal Academy was more than a little surprised when a beautiful woman wearing the clothes of a doctor strode in through the door. "Where is Amy Anderson?" the woman asked in the imperious tone of voice associated with all medical professionals.

"She… er… may I ask who is asking?" the man asked.

Serena looked at the man in the way Miss H looked at her when she asked for a bathroom break. "This is a medical emergency," she announced, not adding the subtext of 'you little man'. "Where is she, or do I have to talk to your administrator about this?"

The guy folded at once. "She's in class 18, Doctor… er…? doctor…?" Serena stormed through the inner doors at once, not glancing back once. The man later swore that he saw a _black cat_ follow the mystery doctor into the building.

Serena caught up with Amy just as she was about to go into the class. She reached out with her magically-lengthened arm and snatched the girl away. None of the other zombie-students seemed to notice. "Amy!" she hissed, shaking the girl and lightly slapping her cheeks. "Amy, it's me! Bunny-chan! Snap out of it! The Enemy is trying to brainwash you!"

Amy groaned and shook her head. "Wh…?" she moaned stupidly.

The girl was still groggy, so Serena decided to save everyone else too. She kicked the classroom door off its' hinges. "Everyone, get away from those PCs!" Serena yelled. "They are being used to brainwash you!" No one responded in any way, which didn't really surprise Serena at all.

"That is correct," said a hissing, metallic voice. Serena span to see Professor Black looking at her, her pale face twisted into an inhuman sneer. "It is quite simple, doctor," said the woman… no, Serena didn't buy _that_ for a second. "Using the disc both brainwashes the student _and_ absorbs bio-etheric energy at a slow, steady rate. By controlling Ms. Anderson's intelligence, I will be able to spread this to the entire nation… to the entire _world_! I will suck your entire pathetic species dry, and I will have the Silver Imperium Crystal for my Master!" The creature laughed and raised her right hand, her fingernails suddenly lengthening to inch-long razor-sharp claws. "Such a pity that you won't be around to see it!"

Serena froze in terror as the monster casually walked towards her, her claws raised to slash her throat open with one blow. "Serena!" Luna hissed. "Henshin yo!"

Serena blinked in surprise. "Oh yeah," she said in an embarrassed tone of voice. "I almost forgot!" She crossed her hands over her Moon Prism Brooch. "Surprise, surprise, monster-chick! MOON PRISM POWER! _MAKE UP_!" There was a flash of brilliant blue-white light and suddenly Sailor Moon, the pretty-girl soldier sailor and Champion of Love and Justice stood before the startled demon. "You took these people's earnest desire for knowledge and learning and perverted that for the service of evil!" Sailor Moon declared. "For that crime, and in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"

With a reptilian hiss of rage, Black raised its' hands and launched a stream of blank sheets of paper at the startled Senshi of the Moon. With a blur of motion, Serena drew her Soul Blade and neatly made a shish-kebab of the papery projectiles. The magically-enhanced sheets of paper exploded into dust on contact with the pure energy of the blade. 

Before Black could react, Sailor Moon vaulted over a mesmerised student, still at his PC, and tried to decapitate the monster with a single high cut. Black ducked and the soul blade sliced the classroom's overhead projector in half in a shower of sparks. Black lashed out with her clawed hand, but Serena blocked the blow with her forearm, then she swung around with a low kick. It might have been the kick, or it might have been a deliberate move on Black's part, but she went tumbling down the aisle between the desks. 

Amy stood frozen at the door. She was still groggy, but she had no doubt who was that young woman wearing the red-white-and-blue sailor fuku. "B… Bunny-chan…?" she whispered.

Black growled in a feral way and raised her hands again. This time the hail of papers shot out in a cone in front of the demon teacher, making it impossible for Serena to parry. The magically-enhanced sheets slashed across the exposed skin of Sailor Moon's arms and legs making her cry out in pain. "Hey! They are razor sharp!" she cried out. "Ow! Stop it! It hurts!" Tears were appearing in her eyes as she instinctively tried to cover her paper cut-marred arms and legs. One slashed across her cheek and she shrieked in pain and surprise. "Ow! I _hate_ cram schools and test papers!" she wailed.

"Serena! Your tiara!" Luna shouted. "Use the sonic attack and then help Amy! You've got to save her; she's important!"

Serena felt a certain embarrassment at the way she had frozen in fear for a few seconds there and grabbed her tiara, somersaulting to one side to avoid the paper-hailstorm for a moment. "Okay, Moon Tiara _Shriek_!" The threw the glowing Frisbee-like projectile and it circled the room emitting a brain-liquefying sound. The power of the sound waves knocked the paper projectiles from the air before they could reach the warrior girl. Black shrieked in agony, covering her ears. The windows and every monitor screen exploded into a fine spray of glass splinters. Serena caught the tiara returned to see that Black had recovered from the sonic attack. "Amy!" she cried out.

The demonic teacher had seized the disoriented blue-haired girl and had her in a headlock, threatening her throat with her claws. "Stay back, Sailor Moon," she hissed, "or the girl genius dies!" Amy tried to struggle, but Black tightened her grip. "You little fool!" she snarled. "You should be brainwashed like all the others! Don't tell me that you didn't use the disc!"

"I… I don't need it…" Amy sobbed, tears running down her face as she tried to understand how an evening at cram school could suddenly turn into a slasher-horror nightmare. "I can study just fine on my own…! H… Help! Someone help me!" The other students had all fainted after the destruction of their monitor screens had broken the brainwashing spell. Sailor Moon, on the other hand, was afraid to move for fear that Black would kill Amy.

At that moment, Luna noticed something. There was a light glowing on the centre of Amy's forehead. It was a cross, surmounted by a horned circle that seemed to glow blue-white from beneath the girl's skin! _There is the proof!_ Luna thought in glee. "Amy!" the cat shouted. "Wave your novelty pen and shout out 'Mercury Power; Make up'!"

Amy was too scared to disobey the unexpected authoritative voice. She snatched the pen in the breast pocket of her sailor blouse and held it up. "Mercury Power!" she cried out in a choked tone around the headlock. "Make up!"

Black didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't going to permit it to happen, whatever it was. "Die!" she snarled, raising her clawed hand. At that moment, Amy seemed to turn into a blue-white ice sculpture, surrounded by streams of snowflake-shaped pulses of energy. "Cold!" the demon shrieked. "M… my body is going numb!"

Suddenly the classroom was filled with icy fog and visibility dropped to zero. Sailor Moon shivered as she placed her tiara back onto her head. "Man, this is cold," she whispered before calling out. "Luna, I can't see anything! Can you see Amy?"

Suddenly, Black loomed out of the fog right in front of the young Senshi. "I've got you now, Moon brat!" she hissed. "I'll cut you into ribbons!"

Serena froze for a second in terror. Then, unexpectedly, two hands curved around her waist and she felt _warm_ and _safe_. "We meet again, little warrior maiden," a warm, dangerous voice said in Sailor Moon's ear. There was a blur of motion as Tuxedo Mask swung Sailor Moon around away from Black. The demon's slashing attack slid uselessly off of the mysterious tuxedo-clad hero's nearly-indestructible cape. He threw a rose with a needle-sharp point on the bottom of the stem over his shoulder and Black screeched in pain. Through the fog, Tuxedo Mask couldn't tell how much damage he had done. "I can't hold that witch off forever," he said quietly into Sailor Moon's ear, making the girl shiver in pleasure.

"I… I know. I can handle this Tuxedo Mask-sama," she said. She stepped out from behind Tuxedo Mask's cape to face the demon, who was clutching a deep cut on its' neck. Sailor Moon concentrated as Luna had taught her, focussing all of her _Ki_, her life force, into her right leg, and then lashed out with a perfect high kick that caught Black on the chin and knocked the monster nearly head-over-heels. There was a thud as Black fell nervelessly to the floor at practically the other end of the classroom.

"Nice move, Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said. "But you still haven't beaten the enemy! You will have to destroy that monster to save your friends!"

Black rose to her feet. "Ah!" she snapped. "Now I can see you and destroy you!"

"Dead wrong, you hag," Sailor Moon snapped. "Now _I_ can destroy _you_!" She pulled off her Moon Tiara and threw it with all her strength. "Moon Tiara Action!" At nearly point-blank range the magically-enhanced weapon slammed into Black's abdomen and cut the demon in half. Both halves were briefly suspended mid-air before they suddenly imploding into silver-grey ash. "Ha! Moon-dusted! Didn't I say that I could handle it, Tuxedo Mask-sama?" Sailor Moon looked around. It was difficult to see through the fog, but it seemed that her mysterious ally had disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. 

Luna ran over through the thinning fog. "Serena! Where is Amy?" she asked.

Both heroine and guardian knew the answer when the fog cleared. Amy was kneeling on one knee, looking at her clothes with an expression of utter disbelief. She was wearing a white fuku nearly identical to Serena's with a navy blue skirt and neckerchief, blue-grey bows and a white crystal in the centre of the bow. Her gloves were white with three navy blue rings at the top and her high-heeled boots were navy blue with white trim at the top. Her v-shaped tiara had an icy blue gem and two blue-grey ribbons trailed down from beneath the bow on the back of her belt. Sailor Moon could see the hilt of a soul blade poking out from behind the girl's back. "Hey…!" Sailor Moon said. "Dig the outfit!"

Luna walked towards the startled girl genius. "Just as I suspected," she said in a smug tone of voice. "Ultimately her genius was what gave it away. Amy is the Senshi who uses the power of water and ice, the protector of the planet of Mercury. Serena Moonlight, Champion of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon, meet Amy Anderson, the Champion of Water and Wisdom, _Sailor Mercury_!"

"M… Me…?" Amy blurted out. "Are you saying that I am a Sailor Senshi like Sailor Moon and Sailor V?" Luna nodded. Amy shook her head. "No way!" she cried out. "I'm not a warrior! There must be some mistake!"

"No mistake, child," Luna said quietly. "Your fuku and that little trick that you pulled with the fog proves that you are who I say that you are." Luna walked over and climbed onto Amy's lap so she could rub the terrified girl's face. "We have been searching for you, Sailor Mercury," she purred. "You and Sailor Moon are the Chosen Ones, two of the warriors who will protect this world from the Enemy."

Somewhat recovered, but still in shock, Sailor Mercury staggered to her feet, only to be engulfed in Sailor Moon's arms. "It is good to meet you, Sailor Mercury," the blonde Senshi laughed. "It is so good not to be fighting alone anymore."

__

To be continued…


	3. A Blaze of Passion

****

A Hero is Born

A Novelisation of the Sailor Moon Manga

Original Story by Naoko Takeuchi

Adapted and Novelised by BenRG

****

Legal Disclaimer

Sailor Moon, her friends and her enemies are all the creation of the wonderful and lively Naoko-sama. I am only a devoted follower and fan. How could I ever claim to own such a wonderful story? I know my limits…

****

Book 3 – A Blaze of Passion

__

Chapter 1 – The Last Chance

General Jadeite of the Dark Kingdom stood in front of the shadowy Dark Throne of his Queen and desperately tried to stop himself from shivering. The last time he had been here, the evil woman who owned him body and soul had warned him that he was running out of chances. Despite his promises to his Queen, he had failed to defeat the persistent irritation of Sailor Moon. Indeed, the number of their enemies had increased with the appearance of Sailor Mercury. Although not as formidable in battle as Sailor Moon, the new Senshi had a formidable intellect. Together, the two had defeated several of his plots to steal energy for the Dark Kingdom and find the Silver Imperium Crystal… Now he had to face the consequences of his damninable bad luck.

The woman on the Dark Throne stood, her knee-length fiery red hair falling gracefully down her back. "Well, General?" she asked in a dangerous tone of voice. "Twice you have come before me with your promises. Twice you have failed to fulfil them. I am not in the habit of tolerating failure. Are you ready to face your fate?"

Jadeite swallowed dryly and forced himself not to take a step backwards in fear. "I… I regret that I underestimated the power of our enemies, Majesty," he said at last. "Consequently, the troops I selected for my missions were inadequate for the task of defeating the Sailor Senshi." He bowed, averting his eyes in what he hoped was a gesture of humility and innocence. "For that I am truly sorry."

The Dark Queen scowled, but before she could say anything, there was a derisive laugh from somewhere to Jadeite's left. "Have you underestimated our enemies… or overestimated your own abilities, Jadeite?" Jadeite's head snapped around to glare at his second-in-command, a tall, muscular man with shoulder-length auburn hair wearing a grey uniform, similar to Jadeite's only with green trim. The man was sneering at Jadeite in a way that showed he had no respect for his superior whatsoever.

"Watch your tongue, Nephrite," Jadeite hissed. "Your discipline could easily begin with its' _removal_!"

Nephrite's sneer grew deeper and he walked past Jadeite to stand before the Dark Queen, acting as if the other man were not even there. "Queen Beryl," Nephrite said, bowing humbly, "General Jadeite clearly lacks the strategic skill as well as lacking sufficiently powerful and capable troops to complete this mission. I humbly offer my own services. I promise that I will gather all the energy that our Master requires, capture the Silver Imperium Crystal _and_ destroy the Sailor Senshi!"

Jadeite growled. "You overstep your bounds, General," he snarled at Nephrite. He summoned his power and was about to lash out at Nephrite, whose sneer had suddenly become a personal affront. 

Before he could attack, however, a fourth voice spoke in the suddenly dead-silent audience chamber. "Your Majesty, is it possible that these… 'Sailor Senshi' are _also_ looking for the Silver Imperium Crystal?" Everyone turned to look at the speaker. It was a short, effeminate man in a grey uniform similar to Jadeite and Nephrite's, only with navy blue trim. The man had long blond hair in a feminine waist-length ponytail. General Zoicite smiled in a smug fashion when he realised that he was the focus of everyone's attention. "Perhaps General Jadeite could better prepare his strategy if he understood exactly what it is for which we find ourselves competing with the Senshi," he continued idly, gesturing to the scowling Jadeite and the fuming Nephrite

Queen Beryl glared thoughtfully at Zoicite. Of all her four champions, he was the one she liked and trusted the least. He was powerful, but narcissistic and insubordinate. Ambition was a good thing in a Dark Kingdom general, but not when he aimed it at the Dark Throne itself. Finally, she came to a decision. Perhaps a… _edited_ version of the truth might serve to motivate her First General to a better performance.

"Very well," she said at last. "The Silver Imperium Crystal is a shard of the fundamental magic of the universe. Its' power is vast in scope and without limit. The one who controls the Silver Imperium Crystal controls the destiny of the entire universe. With it, the Dark Kingdom will rule supreme. If it falls into the hand of our enemies, then this Kingdom, and _all of us_ will be destroyed."

"I understand," Jadeite said into the sudden silence that greeted Queen Beryl's explanation. "Clearly we cannot afford anyone else to get access to this prize."

"Indeed," Beryl announced. "Which is why I have new instructions for you, Jadeite." The man with short blond hair swung to face his liege-lady. "You must abandon your search for the Crystal for now, General," the Dark Queen commanded. "The Sailor Senshi are becoming too serious a threat. Find them and destroy them. After that, you may resume your search for the prize."

Jadeite knelt on one knee and fisted his chest over his heart. "It will be as you command, my Queen," he declared. "I will find and destroy these 'Sailor Senshi'."

"Easier said than done, from all accounts," Nephrite whispered to Zoicite with a derisive smirk.

Jadeite jumped to his feet and strode right up to Nephrite. "Your taunts are as empty as your head, Nephrite," he growled. "I will show you that you have chosen to offend the wrong man. _Victory will be _MINE!" One of Nephrite's eyebrows rose mockingly.

"Those are famous last words, General," Beryl remarked. "Beware that you do not join the teeming mass of failures for whom those _were_ their famous last words!"

Jadeite bowed to his Queen, little more than a perfunctory nod, and stormed out of the audience chamber. Beryl sat in her throne and watched him go. After a moment, she turned to her Second General. "Nephrite," she murmured, "tell me more of your own preferred strategy for this campaign…"

***

Both near to and incomprehensibly far from the Court of the Dark Kingdom, a girl dressed in the robes of a _Miko_, a Shinto Shrine Maiden, was kneeling before a blazing fire deep within the Shrine that she called home. The girl pressed her hands together in prayer as she performed her evening duties as one of the attendants of the Sendai Hill Hikawa Shrine. The flames reflected off her raven-black, hip-length hair, giving her an air of exotic, otherworldly beauty. As Raye Blaise meditated, her mind began to move away from the here and now, travelling the pathway of the future and of the soul. 

Raye could feel a distant power, something of implacable and incorrigible _evil_ pressing down on her. Whatever it was, the shrine was somehow its' target. She could feel a dark consciousness glaring at her. With a gasp, Raye broke out of her meditation trance and stared around the inner shrine in a disoriented fashion. The Sacred Fire burnt in its' grate and everything seemed normal. However, she somehow _knew _that this appearance was deceptive. "It is upon us," she whispered to the silent room. "Something evil is coming this way… I can _feel_ it…"

Raye shook her head. For years now, she had been able to have clear, if cryptic, visions of the future while meditating before the Sacred Fire. She had also gained the ability to sense evil in others' souls. Between them, these talents had gained her some notoriety in the local community, and had allowed her grandfather, Jonathan Blaise, the High Priest of the Hikawa Shrine, to greatly increase the fame of the Shrine in the Tokyo region. However this was the first time that the sense of evil had found its' way into a vision of the future.

With sudden, decisive and graceful movements, Raye rose to her feet. She would meditate on the vision. Hopefully, she would be able to interpret it before it was too late.

Raye took a bamboo-shafted broom from out of a utility cupboard and walked out into the courtyard. She began to sweep away the dust that was endemic in the big city so that the shrine would better reflect its' sacred status. She was so preoccupied with her vision, that she almost missed the two 10-year-old girls as they ran past the entrance archway. "Hi Raye!" one of the girls, a brunette with her hair in cute pigtails. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Raye looked up and her usually serious face broke open with a warm, loving smile that she so rarely used. "Farewell Mimi!" Raye called, waving back. "Take care! May the Kami guide you!" Many people feared Raye for her paranormal abilities. Some saw her simply as a resource that they could exploit. Some, like her father, saw her as a burden with which they did not want to bother themselves. Mimi Rogers, perhaps because of her youth, was one of the few who saw the introverted girl as a friend.

"Hey! There's the bus!" Mimi's friend called. She watched the girls boarded the bus that would take them home. 

Just for a moment, Raye caught the eye of the driver. It was a man with short blond hair and icy blue eyes. Raye shivered. _Man, that guy just sweats bad vibes_, she thought, shivering despite the evening warmth of this April day. She watched the bus drive off and, not for the first time, wished that the Tokyo Municipal Transport Committee had selected a nicer route number for that bus. Route 666 had something of a bad reputation, one that matched its' number, a number that Christians associated with the Devil.

Raye watched the bus drive away. She had focussed on the bus so completely that she nearly jumped out of her skin when her grandfather walked up behind her. "Raye!"

"Oh! Grandpa!" Raye turned to face the old man who had acted as a parent since her mother's death ten long years ago. "What is it, Grandfather?" she respectfully asked the old man with sparse white hair.

"Raye, it is 6PM," Raye's grandfather said in a kindly tone. "It's time for supper, child." He looked closely at her. "Are you okay?"

"I've just got an odd feeling," Raye replied. Then she swept past the old man for the residential wing of the shrine.

Jonathan Blaise watched his beautiful but eternally sad granddaughter walk away with some concern in his eyes. When Raye had an 'odd feeling', then a wise man was ready for the worst. His own readings of the Sacred Fire told him that a moment of destiny, for the whole world as well as for Raye herself, was fast approaching. "May the Kami watch over us all," he murmured before following her inside.

***

"Have you heard of the Phantom Bus?" Melvin Morton asked his classmates as they chatted and gossiped while waiting for Miss Haruna to arrive and start the morning lesson. Their homeroom teacher was quite late this morning, and so the teenagers in her class were occupying themselves in the way that they enjoyed the most.

Brandy Campbell turned to look at the nerdy computer-freak. "You mean the Sendai Hill bus?" she asked. "Yeah, I've _heard _of it, but Dad says that it is just a stupid urban legend."

"I say it is true," Lorraine Harris contradicted firmly.

"Yeah!" Molly said excitedly. "They say if you take the 6PM bus from Sendai Hill, you never come back! They say that the driver is actually a demon!"

"Wow!" Brandy replied. "Maybe it is the Devil's own bus!" The girl shook her head. "Scary…"

"Serena, are you listening to this?" Luna the guardian cat asked her charge. Serena Moonlight was lying on her desk, apparently asleep. But the girl was such a good actor that Luna was never entirely sure.

Serena opened one of her cerulean blue eyes just a bit and groaned sleepily. "Yeah…" she murmured. "Phantom bus… Demon driver… got that…" The girl's eye closed again and Luna could feel her falling asleep again. The cat rolled her eyes. Okay, Serena and Amy had been keeping pretty unsociable hours as they fought the Enemy's forces nearly nightly throughout Juubian and Azabu, but that was _hardly_ an excuse for sleeping in school. Amy managed to stay awake, after all!

Luna watched the kids in class 2-1 as they excitedly discussed the story of the 'Phantom Bus'. _Teenage girls love gossip and rumours_, she reminded herself. Still, with the Enemy increasingly active, the Senshi had to be cautious and follow up every hint of Enemy activity. Luna bounced up onto Serena's head and began to tap her cheeks with her paws. "Wake up, Serena," the cat hissed as loudly as she could without anyone else hearing. "Pay attention to what the others are saying. We are going to have a strategy meeting with Amy after school."

Serena groaned again and slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. "No thanks, Luna…" she murmured as she tried to focus on the world around her. "I'm too beat… Gonna go home for a nap…"

"Don't argue, young lady," Luna snapped. "Consider this an _order_! Be at the Crown Arcade at 5PM! I'm going to tell Amy about the meeting now, so stay out of trouble!"

Serena came away with a sudden jerk of motion. _Did she say meet at the arcade? With Amy? Yay!_ Meeting at the arcade meant ice cream, video games and fun, no matter how hard Luna tried to focus on 'Senshi Business'. "Aye-aye, Ma'am," Serena said with a mock salute as Luna ran for the door, jumping from head to head across the classroom, provoking surprised shrieks and more laughter. 

At that moment, the door of the classroom opened and a very flustered Miss Haruna nearly ran into the class. "Okay, kids, settle down now," she called. "I'm sorry I'm late but… EEEEEEK!" Luna landed right on the teacher's head and jumped off again to run down the hall to Class 2-5, where she knew she would find Amy Anderson. "A cat?" Miss H blurted. "Who brought a _cat_ to school?"

There was a long, deadly silence in Class 2-1. Every head turned to look at Serena who stood up with a silly, embarrassed smile. The blonde girl tried to avoid her teacher's gaze as she ground her toe into the floor. "Uh… I guess she's kind of mine, Haruna-sensei," she admitted with a nervous chuckle.

Miss H was practically _shaking_ with rage. "_Bunny Moonlight_!" she cried out. "Why is it that whenever my class is disrupted… it is somehow down to _you_?" Serena smiled and shrugged in a slightly embarrassed and (she hoped) innocent way.

3 3 3

**__**

From the journal of Serena Caroline Moonlight

4th April 1992

Hi, Diary, it's me, Bunny! The most adorable girl in the 8th Grade is writing again! 

Recently I complained to you about the day that I met this talking cat called Luna. You know me. There is nothing I like more than eating, sleeping and reading manga. Since I met Luna, I am Sailor Moon, the pretty, sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, and I have to fight evil nearly every night! But things aren't so bad anymore. You see, a couple of weeks ago I met this girl called Amy Anderson. She is the smartest girl in my school, a real girl genius!

She has also been chosen to be a Sailor Senshi. She is Sailor Mercury. Although all she can do right now is use her Soul Blade and make fog (and she is good at that), Luna says that she will learn other powers soon enough. I'm really psyched now that I know that I'm not alone anymore. For the first time, I face my battles with hope in my heart.

Yours in love,

Bunny

3 3 3

That evening in the Crown Arcade, Amy and Andrew Fuller, the Arcade owner's son, were watching Serena play her favourite video game, 'Sailor V Fighter'. Both were suitably impressed at the girl's performance. "You've definitely got better at this Bunny-chan," Andrew announced.

"Thanks Andy-onii-san," Serena replied. "I can't take all the credit. Amy-chan has been coaching me!" Amy, frequently quiet and always shy, blushed and looked away from Andrew's frankly admiring gaze. 

As Serena pushed on the game got harder and harder. Finally, Serena found herself (or rather the Sailor V sprite that she controlled) sword-fighting with some nasty guys in grey uniforms. "I don't think I've ever seen this before," Amy said.

"Yeah," Serena replied, her voice quiet as she concentrated on the battle. "This game is just awesome! How many levels and variations does it have anyway?"

Amy slipped away as Serena continued to push forwards into the game, occasionally snapping threats or victory cries at her electronic adversaries. Amy stood at the other end of the row of video games. Luna jumped up onto the console beside her and rubbed her arm for attention. Amy smiled and stroked Luna, who pushed her head against the blue-haired girl's hand for more. "I just can't believe it," Amy whispered. "I am a Sailor Senshi. I have magical powers! _Magic_! I keep looking for a logical explanation for this. My whole life has been based on the premise that there is a scientific explanation for anything and that I can find order in my life through them… Yet now I find myself using magic…" She shook her head and sipped on her cola before continuing. "It frightens me that there is something that I can't reduce to facts and figures…"

"Some things you have to take on faith, Amy," Luna replied. "Not all things are explicable by human science and reasoning. Your species has barely begun to scratch the edifice of the Universal Mystery." 

Amy nodded thoughtfully. As if to demonstrate the logic-defying powers that she had acquired, she balled her fist. There was a hissing sound and a little wisp of steam rose from her clenched fist. Amy opened her hand and dropped a handful of ice, frozen out of air moisture, into her cola. She shivered a little as she considered what she had just done. "It is still all so new," she said. "Last night I went to the park and I just… touched the lake. I could hear the water _talk _to me somehow, Luna. I could feel its' currents and motions through my hand!" The girl shook her head again. "I'm sure that it will all make sense eventually."

"That's the spirit," Luna said with a purr of approval. "Now, on to Senshi business…"

Amy nodded reluctantly. "Who is the 'Enemy', Luna?" she asked. "You've given Serena and I some pretty-sounding explanations, but I want to know what motivates them. What should we expect to happen next?"

"I truthfully don't have all the answers that you want, Amy," Luna replied. "However, I can tell you our duty: We must protect our princess, and an artefact called the Silver Imperium Crystal."

"And what is the 'Silver Imperium Crystal'?" Amy asked. To her frustration, all Luna would do is look up at her in smug innocence. "Luna…" Amy's voice deepened warningly.

"All right!" Serena cried out, distracting Amy. "I've finally cleared the level… and I've beaten your record, Amy-chan!"

"That's good, Bunny-chan," Amy said, hurrying over to congratulate her best friend. Suddenly there was a loud buzzer and a vacuum-wrapped package dropped out of a slot in the front of the machine. 

"Hey! I won a prize!" Serena cheered happily. She grabbed the package and tore it open to pull out two golden watches on golden wrist chain. "Cool! Wrist watches! Dig the style, Amy-chan! They look just like my brooch! There are two so you can have one too!"

"I'll take those," Luna snapped, snatching the watches out of Serena's hand. The girl stared at Luna accusingly. "Well, they _were_ meant for me," Luna said, slightly defensively. "These aren't just watches, Serena, look at this." The cat pressed two studs on the left of the watch and the watch face suddenly sprung open on a hinge, revealing a set of buttons and a small LCD screen on the back of the section that swung open. "These are communications devices," Luna explained, "part of your Senshi equipment. Serena, if you need to reach Amy, you press the symbol of Mercury on the control panel. Similarly, Amy, if you need to contact Serena, press the symbol of the Moon. I have my own communicator, and you can reach me using the unmarked black button."

Serena and Amy strapped on their wristwatches, both feeling a little weird. "Luna, how did those get into the Sailor V game?" Serena asked suspiciously.

Amy frowned at the cat. "Have you been adjusting these machines without telling Fuller-san?" she asked sharply. Luna grinned and winked at the girl, meowing in a smug tone. Amy shook her head nervously, not liking the thought of Luna doing anything _illegal_. Suddenly she looked at her watch and gasped. "Oh! I'm late for cram school!" she gasped.

Serena groaned. Although she had exposed Amy's previous cram school, Crystal Academy, as a front for the Enemy, Amy's mother had immediately enrolled her clever daughter in another evening class. "Amy-chan," she complained in a whining tone of voice. "Do you have to go? Hanging out is no fun without you?"

"So why don't you tag along?" Amy asked. Serena was about to protest. "Come on, Bunny-chan," Amy said in a sly tone of voice. "I _know_ that you enjoy the Practical Computing class. Come on, I'll walk you through the tough bits." Serena still seemed a bit uncertain. Amy was determined to help her best friend progress academically, and in the two weeks that they had known each other, she had learnt enough to know what buttons to push to make Serena attend evening classes, despite her reluctance. "I think you should come along anyway," Amy said with a mischievous wink as she nearly dragged the reluctant Serena out to the bus stop. "There is this girl who rides the bus the same time as me. She is really beautiful. I think she is a priestess at the Shinto shrine on Sendai Hill…"

Serena's ears pricked up suddenly. "Sendai Hill bus?" she asked suddenly. Amy nodded in confusion as the bus in question turned onto Sakura Street and drove towards the stop where they were waiting. "I've heard about this bus, Amy-chan. Maybe you should find another route to school! I've heard that…"

"I hope that you two lovely ladies aren't planning on _riding _this bus," Melvin asked severely, abruptly appearing in front of Serena and Amy.

"Melvin! Where did you come from?" Amy squeaked in fear. Serena was so surprised that it took all of her self control not to use the karate throw that Luna taught them last week on the nerdish boy.

"The 6PM bus to Sendai Hill is known as the 'Phantom Bus'," Melvin continued in an ominous tone of voice. "I wouldn't ride it if I were you! There has been a spate of missing children reports recently. The common factor in all the cases is that the children in question were last seen riding on the 6PM bus to Sendai Hill!"

Amy firmly pushed Melvin aside so she could board the bus. "Don't!" he protested. "That thing is a death trap!"

"Melvin, that is just a stupid rumour," Serena said as she boarded the bus. "Amy and I are travelling together, so we will be safe. Besides," here Serena smiled and patted the boy on the head like he was a mischievous puppy, "this is the 5PM bus." The door closed and Melvin deflated as he watched the bus drive away.

**__**

Chapter 2 – A Beautiful Flame

The two friends stood by the exit doors of the bus and looked around them in a casual way as the bus pulled away from the stop. Suddenly, Amy tapped Serena on the shoulder. "Bunny-chan?" she said discreetly. "There she is!"

Serena looked in the direction that Amy was pointing and felt her mouth drop open in a slightly silly way. Standing at the front of the bus was a young woman with the most astounding eyes, which were a kind of deep blue, almost _violet_. The quiet, understated grace of the girl's movements captivated Serena and she was astonished at the length of her raven black hair. "Who is she? She's _beautiful_!" Serena asked in amazement.

"Here name is Raye Blaise," Amy replied. "Apparently she is the Shrine Maiden at the Sendai Hill shrine." Serena nodded, not really listening. She was completely hypnotised by the black-haired girl in the two-tone grey uniform of the Catholic St. Thomas of Aquinas School for Young Ladies. "Apparently, she is psychic!"

"Wow!" Serena said. If it wasn't for the fact that it would be unbelievably hentai to do so, Serena could have sworn that she was falling in love with Raye. Nonetheless, something drew her to the sad-looking girl. It was insane, but somehow, she felt that she _knew_ her from somewhere…

"Okay, this is my stop," Amy said. She looked at the way her friend was staring at Raye and smiled gently. "I'll leave you two alone together," she said, making Luna snort with laughter. "See you tomorrow, okay?" 

Serena nodded in an entranced way. "Right, tomorrow. Ja ne!" 

Amy got off the bus, giggling to herself. "I wonder if Serena prefers girls?" she asked herself before shaking her head. "No! Bad thoughts! Weird concept!" She walked off to her evening class, idly wondering what adventures might be awaiting Serena this time.

***

"_Sendai Hill! This is Sendai Hill!_" the bus driver announced over the intercom. Serena jerked back into full awareness as she watched Raye work her way towards the exit doors. Quietly and discreetly, Serena also got ready to disembark, using all the skills that Luna had taught her in the dark art of surveillance to ensure that Raye didn't realise that she was being followed.

Luna jumped onto Serena's shoulders as soon as they were off the bus. "Serena, we are miles from home," she complained peevishly. "Did you get off here just so that you can stalk that poor young lady?"

"Luna!" Serena whined, "don't bug me! She is so beautiful… and I want to know why she seems so sad! Besides, I don't have anything planned for tonight!" Luna groaned and rolled her eyes in disbelief. Serena, meanwhile, was staring about her frantically. "Hey! She's gone!" she cried out. "You stupid cat, I spent so much time talking to you that I've lost track of her!" Serena pushed Luna off her shoulders and looked away in a sulk. "This is all your fault," she muttered.

"Serena," Luna said gently. "Amy said that she is a Miko at a Shinto shrine, didn't she?" Serena nodded in a mystified way. Luna pointed a foreleg at the ornamental arch over the entrance to a Shinto shrine not ten yards from where Serena was standing. "This is just a guess, you understand," the cat said with a lot of irony in her voice, "but I'll bet that she is in there."

"Oh," Serena said, nonplussed. "Yeah, right. I knew that!"

As Serena entered the shrine, she saw the features that she expected of such a place. Although her family were not particularly religious, she had attended festivals at other shrines, especially when she was young and her father, then a junior journalist, was assigned to cover the event. Therefore, she recognised the patterned gravel of the meditation garden immediately, with its' strange interlocking pattern of ripples. There was also a sacred pond with several Koi Carp swimming about in it. There was also a Sakura ('Cherry Blossom') tree, with several prayer scrolls tied to its' branches. 

Serena bowed respectfully to the Koi and walked past the tree. As she did so, a pair of black Carrion Crows suddenly launched themselves from the tree and began to circle around the courtyard. "Serena…" Luna said.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Serena completed as the crows suddenly dived towards her and began to peck madly at her hair and clothes. Serena screamed in surprise and terror, trying to protect her face and eyes from the vicious assault.

Inside the shrine buildings, Raye had just changed into her ceremonial clothes when she heard Phobos and Deimos, her pet crows, cawing frantically. She also heard a scream. Simultaneously, her psychic sense reacting to an enormous power of a kind she had _never_ felt before, but nonetheless felt hauntingly familiar. She had felt an echo of this power in her visions. _What _is_ that?_ Raye asked herself as she smoothly rose to her feet. _Is it an evil spirit? Some kind of demon? Where are you?_ The girl ran out into the courtyard to see her crows attacking a girl with blonde hair in the most astonishing hairdo. Raye had no doubt that the girl was the source of the power that she could sense. "Whoever you are, I won't let you defile the sacred soil of this temple!" she cried out, stepping forward to face the astonished girl. She reached inside her robes and pulled out a prayer scroll. She whispered an incantation over the scroll before throwing it towards the girl. "_Aku ryo tai san_!" she cried out. The scroll unfurled in mid-air, revealing the four sacred letters in the Kanji script that were said to drive out evil. 

It was a great surprise to Raye that, as the sacred scroll struck the girl on the forehead and stuck there, it did not drive any howling evil spirit from her body. Instead, the girl's eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted dead away.

"What the…?" Raye asked herself. She began to smile in an embarrassed way and suddenly wished that there were somewhere she could put her hands, which she still had stretched out from throwing the charm, that would make her seem a little less… idiotic. "Just a girl?" Raye said in a stupid tone of voice. She suddenly turned to glare at Phobos and Deimos, who had alighted on the roof guttering of the Shrine buildings. "You two had _better_ have a good explanation for this!" she snapped at the two embarrassed-looking crows.

Raye walked forwards, knelt beside Serena, and helped her to sit up. "Are you okay, madam? I hope that I didn't hurt you!"

Serena shook her head. "I've had worse," she replied truthfully. "Er… I'm Serena Moonlight. I hope I didn't disturb you or something, but those birds took a dislike to me."

"I'm so sorry, Moonlight-san," Raye said, bowing humbly. "I felt a power in the courtyard and when I saw Phobos and Deimos attacking you, I thought that you were possessed with an evil spirit. I… er… I suppose that I made a mistake." That was the hardest admission that Raye had made in her life. "I really don't know what possessed these two," Raye said, getting up and holding her hands out to her pets. The two big crows took to wing and soared down to land on their mistress' forearms, cawing self-consciously. "They normally don't just attack people."

__

So she really is psychic, Serena thought. _She must have felt my Senshi powers. I wonder if that is what set her crows off too?_ "Nothing broken or damaged too bad to mend," Serena replied, getting to her feet. "What's your name?"

"Er… Raye Blaise, Moonlight-san," Raye replied nervously. Was this girl going to complain to grandpa? Raye shivered, a little, already dreading the little man's gentle expression of disappointment and his quiet words of reproof. 

"You can call me, Bunny, Raye-san," Serena replied. "All my friends do." Raye blinked, unable to follow the other girl's thoughts. "I guess I should admit that I followed you here," Serena admitted with a slight smile. "You looked so lonely and sad and I guess… I guess that I wanted to help. Maybe even be your friend."

Raye was astonished and it took all of her self-control not to burst into tears. _She wants to be my friend? But I've only just met her!_ Raye shook her head and managed to focus her suddenly tear-filled eyes on the blonde-haired girl-child before her. There was such _honesty_ and love in her eyes that Raye could feel her walls collapsing and her strength of will deserting her.

Serena was watching Raye's body language with interest. She could see that Raye was damaged goods and she had an urge to help her. _A psychic priestess! Cool! She's a bit scary at first, but she's okay really. She's really exotic and pretty… I wonder if we can be friends?_ "No rush, of course," she continued. "We should get to know each other first."

Raye managed to laugh nervously. "Of course, Bunny-san," she said with a slight smile. "I'm rather busy right now, but maybe we could meet some time and…" Raye suddenly heard the prayer bell in the shrine toll, indicating that someone had finished a prayer. She recognised Mimi Rogers' mother and father immediately. Mrs. Rogers, especially, seemed in a terrible state. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears streaked her cheeks. "Mrs. Rogers! Is everything alright?" Raye asked urgently. "N… Nothing has happened to Mimi… has there?" 

"Oh, Raye!" Mrs. Rogers replied. "Haven't you heard? My Mimi is missing! She rode on that 'Phantom Bus' and now no one seems to know where she is!" The woman shook her head. "I wish that she hadn't started hanging out around here. This whole area is so _creepy_! I'm so worried…" The woman turned to look at Raye, taking in the girl's suddenly frozen expression of mixed rage and sadness. "Raye, dear, I didn't mean that this temple is creepy!" the woman said a bit _too_ quickly. It was only too clear that she _did_ mean that. It was taking all of Raye's strength not to start screaming or crying.

Mr. and Mrs. Rogers moved away from the shrine. Sensing Raye's distress, Serena walked up beside her and touched the back of her hand. Raye immediately grabbed the offered hand and squeezed it with painful strength. She managed to shoot Serena a grateful smile. Thanks to the wind and Serena's enhanced hearing, she could hear the Rogers' whispered comments very clearly. "That Miko isn't even surprised that this has happened!" Mr. Rogers snapped.

"Well, Raye's whole family is strange," Mrs. Rogers agreed. "They have these weird chants that they use when they pray. They keep _crows_ of all things as pets, and some say that Raye has psychic powers! She's a mutant freak!" Serena could feel the tension in Raye's body. Instinctively, she put an arm around the black-haired girl's shoulders and squeezed tightly, trying to reassure her.

Luna walked up beside the hugging girls and watched Raye's demonstration of stoicism thoughtfully. _Such a strangely powerful yet calm girl_, the cat thought. _Did that bigoted woman say that Raye had psychic powers?_ Luna tried to put all the pieces together. _She has such elegance, beauty and flowing movements. She is a priestess too… Could she be… the Princess?_

The Rogers had left and Raye had extracted herself from Serena's hug with a small, grateful smile. "Do you know what is going on here, Raye-chan?" Serena asked.

"I don't know, but I know the legend," Raye said. She led Serena out onto the road. "As you can see, five roads meet at the top of Sendai Hill," the Miko said, gesturing to the crossroads. "According to the legend, there is another, invisible sixth road. A 'Phantom Road', if you will. The locals say that the Phantom Bus is the only one that goes down that road. If you take the 6PM bus from the stop here at Sendai Hill… then you go down the phantom road and you are never seen again. The legend calls it a 'Hell Heist'." 

"Yeah, but that is just a legend, isn't is?" Serena asked nervously, suddenly wishing that she were in her Sailor Moon form and ready to fight the invisible horrors that she could feel all around her.

"Well, that is the question isn't it, Bunny-chan?" Raye said with a slightly false smile. "After everything that has been happening recently… I don't know. I just don't know."

***

Nephrite, Second General of the Dark Kingdom of the Negaverse, shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the motley collection of human females, who were all comatose and paralysed due to a thorough soaking in dark magic, that Jadeite's puzzling new scheme had collected. Some of them were actually quite pleasing to look at, but most were little more than children. "I never thought that I would say this, Jadeite," Nephrite said, "but this time you have surpassed yourself."

"Oh?" Jadeite looked up from where he was supervising a set of Youma who were servicing the human mass-transit vehicle that he had appropriated for his latest scheme. He felt a certain level of shock and gratification. Could Nephrite have just _complimented_ him?

"Yes," Nephrite said with a grin. "This plan is more idiotic and unwieldy than all your previous plans put together! Why do you want these humans anyway?"

Jadeite rolled his eyes. "Nephrite, for a General of the Dark Kingdom, you are tragically lacking in strategic and tactical acumen. These humans are bait." Nephrite raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury are sure to come looking for these pitiful sub-creatures. When they do, they will fall into my hands and I will destroy them."

"What makes you think that two accomplished warriors would be interested in the fate of this flotsam?" Nephrite asked, gesturing contemptuously at the girls. 

"They have an odd habit of attempting to save the imperilled, Nephrite," Jadeite explained. "Even worthless specimens like these!" Jadeite walked over and looked down at the hostages with a sadistic sneer. "Once they have exceeded their usefulness, we can feed them directly to the master, removing the need to extract their energy first. I will do that at the same time that I present our Queen the heads of Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury."

Jadeite began to laugh dangerously. Nephrite scowled as he watched his superior's mirth. _I hope that you have underestimated Sailor Moon,_ he thought. _For if she defeats you again, the Queen will have no mercy! The sooner you are out of my way, the better._

****

Chapter 3 – A Dark Mystery

Next morning, Juubian Junior High School was abuzz with the latest news from the worsening problems on Sendai Hill. "Did you hear?" Molly was telling her friends. "Another girl vanished last night after riding a bus home!"

"No way!" Brandy gasped. "That's like… the _tenth_ disappearance! 

"And the first from our school!" Molly added (to a chorus of 'No way!' from the other pupils in Class 2-1). "Yeah!" Molly continued, enjoying having the full attention of her peers. "I figure that it was the 6PM Phantom Bus!"

"You mean she disappeared when riding the bus to Sendai Hill?" Lorraine gasped and pressed her hands to her cheeks in an excess of shock. "Man! This is getting _too _spooky!"

"Quiet!" Miss H said as she entered the classroom. "Okay class, before we start Homeroom this morning, the Principal has asked me to make an announcement. As you are aware, there has been a rash of disappearances, especially of young girls, in the last few days. I want all of you to be very cautious from now on. Travel only in groups and _don't_ talk to strangers. Additionally, the school has hired security guards who will protect the building and the grounds from now on."

__

Raye called them 'Hell Heists', Serena thought as Miss H continued to outline the advice of the Principal of what to do if one wanted to avoid being kidnapped. _I wish I understood what was going on. So many disappearances, all in the same place, just can't be a coincidence_. 

Serena's thoughts were interrupted by Melvin, as the nerdish boy leant over to talk to her. "I think this is a kidnapping ring, Bunny!" he whispered harshly. "Maybe even a slaver ring! What do you think?"

"Mister Morton!" Miss H shouted. "If I can have your attention _please_?"

Serena shook her head. It was typical of Melvin to come up with such a melodramatic suggestion. No. Something told her that a group of slavers kidnapping girls for service or worse was too _mundane_ a possibility. Luna, who was curled up on her lap, agreed with her ward's unspoken suspicions. "I sense the Enemy's work," the cat murmured.

Serena nodded. "I agree, but I can't figure out why," she replied. "Just kidnapping girls doesn't make sense! They could steal their energy without kidnapping them. And the girls are all ordinary people! Nobodies!"

Luna purred in agreement. _Serena Moonlight thinking analytically! Thinking like a Senshi!_ she thought proudly. _Will wonders never cease?_ The cat thought for a moment before speaking again. "I think another visit to Sendai Hill is in order," she declared quietly. "You should talk to Raye-san again. Perhaps her psychic abilities might furnish us with a lead. Her powers make me suspect that she may be another Senshi, waiting to be awoken."

"Yeah, maybe," Serena said. "Of course, it might also mean that she is an agent of the Enemy. We don't know either way yet, so we are going to have to be careful."

"You are starting to think like a Senshi at last," Luna said proudly.

***

After school, Serena stood outside of the Crown Arcade. She had put up a big fight when Luna suggested that she take the bus to Sendai Hill. "No way!" she had declared. "I'm not getting myself kidnapped!"

"Serena, think rationally," the cat snapped. "All the kidnaps took place on the 6PM service. You will be taking the 5PM service! Besides which, Amy will be in 2-way radio contact with you at all times, so you can summon her immediately if you need help!" It was a pity that today was the day that Amy participated in the after-school Debating Society. That meant that Serena was going into the proverbial mouth of the dragon alone (apart from Luna, of course). However, she had to admit that time _was _of the essence now. Every day wasted was another day when some innocent girl would vanish on the 'Phantom Bus'.

Fortunately, Luna had come up with a new gadget that reduced the risk slightly. Serena remembered how ecstatic Amy was when the cat presented her with the super-compact handheld computer. As well as having immense processing and sensing power, the device (which Luna called a 'Tactical and Analytical Computer System' or TACS) had the ability to locate where a Senshi communicator was within a square metre from a range of thousands of kilometres.

Nonetheless, as Serena settled on the rear bench seat of the bus, she didn't feel at all safe. "If something nasty happens to me, I'm going to blame you, Luna," she announced.

"Now you're being paranoid," Luna replied scornfully. "No one has disappeared on the 5PM bus yet. If you have the slightest problem, you can contact Amy. Even if you can't do _that_, she can easily track you with her TACS handset."

"Maybe…" Serena said doubtfully. "Still, I really wish there were another way to get to Raye-chan's shrine." Suddenly, Luna seemed to go mad. The cat started waving her forepaws around frantically and meowing crazily. "Luna, what's wrong?" Serena gasped. "Tell me!"

"Yeah, come on Luna, just come out and say it," said a familiar dangerous, smoky and sardonic voice.

Serena stiffened and stared into the dangerous midnight blue eyes of Darien Shields. "_AARGH_! It's you again!" Serena wailed, pointing a shaking finger at her tormentor-in-chief. "What is this? Are you _stalking _me or something?"

Darien winced. Serena was pretty, but when she was upset she could deafen you. "Turn down the decibels, Ondango Atama!" He pleaded. Serena stopped wailing. Instead she hugged Luna defensively and leaned away from him. That made Darien's heart ache. _She is afraid of me!_ he realised. _Of course she is_, a more cynical part of him replied. _She probably thinks of you as her worst enemy. All you ever do is tease and insult her!_ Darien somehow overcame the melancholy that this thought inspired and addressed the blonde-haired angel again. "If you must know, Ondango," he said, "I take this bus to and from school." Darien flashed his student ID in Serena's face as if he were an undercover cop.

"Oh, yeah, I knew that," Serena said, sounding a bit abashed. Darien attended the exclusive Azabu High School. However, he lived somewhere nearer to Juubian, so route 666 was the logical choice for him to go to and from school. _Eleventh grade_, Serena thought with a secret smile as she remembered what was on his ID badge. _So he is only four or five years older than me! This is good…! NO! Bad thoughts, Bunny! You are _not_ going to ask him out… ever!_ She tried to distract herself from her desperately-suppressed attraction to the Baka by steering the conversation onto a mundane tack. "So Baka," she said airily, "have you heard about this 'Phantom Bus'?"

"How could I not have?" Darien asked with his best 'devil-may-care' grin. This had the effect of making Serena feel rather soft and dreamy. She didn't realise that her smile had much the same effect on him. "It is on this line," Darien continued. "The 6PM bus almost seems cursed. Of course, I've never been on it, so I can't tell you if any of it is true." Darien looked away for a moment, looking forwards along the length of the bus as if he expected the answer to this mystery to appear on the road ahead.

Serena barely bit down a shriek of disbelief. From this angle… Darien… the _Baka_ himself… was a dead ringer for _Tuxedo Mask_! Darien turned around just in time to see Serena blush bright red and look away in a combination of anger, disbelief and the shy attraction that she always felt towards the masked stranger. Serena's cheeks burned even hotter with embarrassment as she cursed herself for acting like silly schoolgirl with a crush.

Meanwhile, Darien's mouth had dropped open in a most undignified manner. He couldn't look away from her. Blushing like that, she suddenly seemed all the more the perfect angel. He had never believed that anyone, especially someone so young, could seem so… _feminine _and _desirable_. Then he realised something. Serena, the Ondango Atama, reminded him of someone else. Someone that she _couldn't_ be. Could she? What did she call herself…? "The Champion of Love and Justice…" Darien snapped his mouth shut. _Baka! Why did you say that aloud?_

"WHAT?" Serena screamed at the top of her considerable voice. "What did you call me?"

"Er… nothing…" Darien said, desperately trying to cover his sudden descent into being a fuzzy-brained imbecile. "I was… er… thinking about a novel that I've been reading lately."

"_Next stop Sendai Hill_," the driver announced. "_The next stop is Sendai Hill!_"

***

Serena and Luna watched as the 5PM bus to Sendai Hill vanished into the distance. "Some days, Darien-baka just freaks me out," Serena said in a tired, confused tone of voice.

"He's certainly got razor-sharp wits," Luna agreed with a massive droplet of sweat at the side of her face. "We will have to be on our guard around him. I'll tell Amy to be careful with him too."

***

Darien was looking back at the girl and her cat as the bus pulled away. He knew that he would never look at Serena in the same way ever again. Whoever she was, she was not who she seemed to be to the casual gaze.

There was no doubt about it. That cat _spoke_ in clear Japanese, with a slight English accent. Then there was the resemblance between Serena and Sailor Moon, the brave little warrior maiden of the night who he had found himself fighting alongside against the monsters that threatened the world. Could she be somehow linked to his princess? The dreams were getting clearer, and his princess had the same unusual hairstyle as Sailor Moon… and as Serena Moonlight. Try as he might, however, he could not remember Sailor Moon's face, or even her general build and body-form, and compare it with Serena. Magic of some kind was at work. He resolved to look much more closely at his ally-of-convenience when they next met.

***

Serena was quite surprised when she entered the grounds of shrine where Raye lived. If one ignored the incident with the crows and the charm scroll, the Shrine was a haven of peace and tranquillity when she first visited it yesterday. However, right now it looked and sounded like a town meeting was going on. Raye, who looked very nervous and defensive, was standing in front of about a dozen adults, who all seemed to be in a great ferment about something. Serena immediately recognised the two parents from yesterday. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that these were the parents of some of the girls that had disappeared in 'Hell Heists'.

"I want you to use those fancy psychic powers of you to find my Mimi!" Mrs. Rogers said, her voice loud and strident. "If you are as good as your grandfather says that you are, I'm _sure _that you will be able to manage something this simple."

Raye felt immensely uncomfortable. She never liked talking about her 'gifts'. It only served to emphasise how different she was from everyone else. She could hear the sceptical muttering from the other parents gathered at the shrine. "Look," Raye said, sounding a bit uncertain, "I don't know what you think about me, but it isn't that simple. My powers of foresight aren't conscious. I sometimes have visions when I meditate, but they are never clear."

Mr. Rogers stormed forwards. "Now you listen to me, young lady," the man growled. "Everyone gathered here today have donated very generously to keep this shrine open so that you and your grandfather can live your easy lifestyle." Raye jerked as she had been physically hit and tears began to press against the back of her eyes. By the entrance arch, Serena gasped and stuffed a fist in her mouth to restrain a cry of rage.

"Look, I can't just turn my psychic abilities 'on' and 'off' at will," Raye snapped back at Mr. Rogers. "Even when I _do_ have visions, they need to be interpreted patiently! Sometimes it takes me _months_, if I figure them out at all!"

Mr. Rogers snorted. "Maybe she has a good reason not to co-operate," he suggested with a sneer.

"Now Raye," Mrs. Rogers said in a voice that was icy in its' contempt and anger. "Why don't you be a sweet and nice little girl for once in your misbegotten life and do what we say? Or maybe we should just assume that your grandfather doesn't need our help paying off all the debts that this place has built up over the years!"

Raye staggered. "No… No, that isn't fair…" she protested. Much to her frustration, all she could do was stop herself from starting to cry. _I would never hurt Mimi! She was my friend! Why does everyone _hate_ me?_

"She knows something," One of the other adults proclaimed.

Mr. Rogers nodded firmly. "I wouldn't be surprised if the weird chants this freak uses were what made my little girl vanish into thin air like that!"

"_How dare you_?" Everyone turned to see the blond girl in the uniform of Juubian Junior High storm across the courtyard. "How dare you accuse Raye of something like that? Do you know _anything_? Do you have any proof that she has done anything wrong? _No_! You just see something different from yourself and you try and blame all your ills on her because of that. That's wrong and you know it!" Serena strode up to Raye's side and placed herself defensively in between the Miko and the crowd, which was suddenly shifting uncertainly in the face of this unexpected check. "Tomorrow you will hate yourself for even _thinking_ such things of someone as pure-souled and caring as Raye! You should go home before Mr. Blaise throws you off of his property, you ungrateful, mean-hearted bigots!"

"Now see here, little girl," Mr. Rogers said uncertainly. He looked into Serena's cerulean blue eyes and obviously saw something that he didn't like. There was something in there. Something so _old_… Instead of continuing his thought, he looked away. 

"Thanks, Bunny-chan," Raye said quietly, shooting the normally mild-tempered blonde girl an uncertain smile.

"Don't mention it, Raye-chan," Serena replied. "It is what friends are for." Serena hugged the taller girl, who held herself stiffly for a few seconds before reciprocating with an uncertain smile.

After Raye regained her wits, Serena let her get on with her chores and went out onto the street to think. "Poor Raye," she said. "It must be awful having someone accuse you like that, just because they are afraid of your special gift."

"Bigotry has always been the worst part of the human condition," Luna replied. The cat, who was sitting in her mistress' lap, looked thoughtfully into the distance. "I just wish that I understood the Enemy's goal for committing all these kidnaps," Luna said. "It makes no strategic sense! Why aren't they looking for the Silver Imperium Crystal?"

"The Enemy is looking for the Silver Imperium Crystal too?" Serena was surprised to say the least. Luna hadn't even _hinted_ of something like this before. 

"Er, yes," Luna said. "Did I neglect to mention that? How in remiss of me." Luna looked up and into her ward's blue eyes. "Never forget, Serena. There is nothing more important than making sure that the Enemy does not get its' hands on the Silver Imperium Crystal." Serena nodded urgently in agreement, not seeing the enigmatic figure in a tuxedo, staring at her through a white domino mask from behind the shrine's entrance archway.

Feeling uneasy, the girl and her guardian stood and walked off, looking around the area for clues as to their enemy's intentions.

**__**

Chapter 4 – Hell Heist

After the stress of the last few hours, and the alien feelings of comfort and friendship that she had experienced after Serena's unexpected intervention, Raye felt the need to find her centre again. She retreated into the inner shrine and, after the appropriate preparations and prayers, she knelt before the sacred fire and began to meditate. 

With startling speed and clarity, the images and the sensations bore down on the hapless Miko. Never before had she experienced such a clear vision. She tried to break the meditative trance, but she was unable to exert her will. She whimpered in terror as the boiling visions of pain and evil roared around her. She suddenly saw a clear image, a man with icy blue eyes and short blond hair… The driver of the bus on the day that Mimi disappeared! Was _he_ the kidnapper…? Then she saw another image, the man was wearing a red-highlighted grey uniform that Raye had never seen before. He was wrestling with a terrified girl… A girl with long hair in pigtails streaming down from ondango buns… _Bunny-chan! Bunny is in trouble…!_

With a cry, Raye snapped out of her trance and nearly fell onto her back. She was breathing harshly as she tried to re-focus her mind on the here-and-now. _Serena… She is in trouble. I've got to help her._ Forgetting to change out of her official robes, forgetting everything except her vision of danger threatening the pure-hearted blonde girl, Raye rushed out of the temple.

She reached the bus stop, and was confused to see that Serena wasn't at the bus stop at all. At that moment there was a roar of a diesel engine and a bus pulled up at the stop. Raye's eyes bugged out in primeval terror when she saw the blond-haired kidnapper from her vision sitting in the driver's seat. "All aboard," he said professionally. Raye swallowed and tried to take a step backwards. The driver scowled and held out his hand to her. In her head, the Miko heard his voice. '_Obey… Obey… Board the bus… You have nothing to fear… Obey… Obey…_'

Raye took a step forwards and the girl looked down at her treacherous limbs in horror. She couldn't stop herself from walking towards the bus. She tried to scream for help, but her mouth didn't move. _What is happening to me?_ Raye asked herself in horror. _Something has taken control of my body!_

She stepped up onto the bus and the driver smiled at her in demonic triumph. "Please move right down the bus, ma'am," he said calmly.

***

Serena, with Luna on her shoulder, was standing in the centre of the Sendai Hill crossroads, watching the traffic rolling past. Lacking any other ideas, they had decided to wait for the 'Phantom Bus' and watch what happened next before deciding on a course of action. Luna felt confident that, after all the negative publicity, the chances of anyone being on the bus, necessitating immediate action on their part, was less than nothing.

There was a sudden two-tone beep that startled Serena. Then she realised that it was coming from her new wrist-watch. "Funny, I didn't set the alarm," she said, mostly to herself, as the tones continued to sound.

"That is your communicator, Serena," Luna said in a long-suffering tone. "It means that someone is trying to contact you."

"I knew that," Serena lied smoothly, blushing slightly in embarrassment. She touched the appropriate studs on the side of the watch and the face sprung open, revealing the communicator's controls in the base and the display screen on the flip-up section. Immediately the good-natured round face of Amy Anderson appeared. "Yeah, go Ames," Serena said.

"_I'm coming over to join you, Serena,_" Amy reported to her friend in a quiet and discreet tone of voice. "_Where are you right now?_"

"I'm on the corner of Sendai and Third Avenue," Serena replied. "How soon can you get here, Ames? Me and Luna are going Phantom Bus spotting."

Amy chuckled nervously. "_My mom has had one of her rare days off-shift and I have talked her into giving me a lift to see my 'new friend' on Sendai Hill,_" Amy replied, looking a bit ashamed at the deception. "_I'll be there in five minutes._"

"That's good," Serena said. "Amy-chan, I know that you feel bad about lying to your mom, but it is for the best right now, okay?" Amy nodded and cut off the communication from her end; Her mother had probably just joined her.

Serena had barely enough time to feel relief that Amy was coming to join her when Luna stiffened on her shoulders. "Serena, look!" Serena looked up and saw a city bus rolling towards her from the Sendai Hill bus stop. There was something really weird about it, though. Instead of route and destination information on the front of the bus, there was just a diffuse, alien green light shining out. "Definitely not a real bus," Luna said excitedly. "This is it! This is the Phantom Bus!"

As the bus swept past the place they were waiting, Serena's sharp eyes immediately caught a horrifying sight. Sitting in a window seat was a familiar figure, a pale girl in the robes of a Shinto priestess, with long raven black hair and violet eyes. Although Raye's posture and face were relaxed, Serena immediately saw the utter helpless terror in the Miko's eyes. "KAMI-SAMA!" Serena screamed. "They've got Raye, Luna!" Serena turned to follow the vehicle as it swept towards an office block that formed the sixth face of the Sendai Hill hexagon. As the vehicle approached the wall, a beam of bright green light shot out from the blank destination display and hit the wall. At the point of impact, a green-white vortex began to form. "It _is_ the Phantom Bus!" Serena gasped. "It has kidnapped Raye and it is going to warp through that wall somehow! I've got to help her!"

The young blonde girl rushed towards the slow-moving bus as fast as her legs could carry her. Serena had always been able to run quickly, otherwise she would have _never_ got to school on time. Now, enhanced by her Senshi powers, she was one of the fastest sprinters on Earth. Working on some instinct, she grabbed her Disguise Pen out of its' inter-dimensional hiding place (a useful trick that Luna had taught Amy and her) and raised it. "Disguise Power!" she cried out. "Make me a ticket inspector!"

Lights flashed and surrounded the running girl. When they cleared, she had grown a good six inches and was wearing the uniform of an employee of the Tokyo Municipal Transport Committee. However (probably due to some element of Serena's subconscious thought processes), instead of trousers, the uniform was completed with a scandalously short skirt, and the uniform blouse had a plunging neckline. "What on Earth are you doing?" A puffing and panting Luna gasped out.

"I want to stay inconspicuous!" Serena snapped as she leapt into the air. By some miracle, the girl managed to grab hold of an inspection panel on the back of the bus and get enough of a grip to hang on. Luna was not so lucky. She scrabbled with her claws on the back of Serena's uniform jacket, but she couldn't hold on. Serena heard her guardian's panicked cry and looked back. "Luna! No!" she gasped.

Luna tumbled into the air and winced, waiting for the impact. Instead, much to her surprise, two white-gloved hands snatched her out of the air and clutched her to a tuxedo-clad breast. _Tuxedo Mask? Here?_ Luna thought in shock. _Not that I am complaining but…_ The cat looked up and, with a feeling of utter horror, she watched the bus (with Serena still hanging onto its' rear) vanish into the vortex. The vortex vanished, and Serena was gone.

"Shimmata!" Luna snapped, not caring that she was still in Tuxedo Mask's arms. She jumped from the masked hero's grasp and ran towards the Shrine, where Amy was doubtless shortly to arrive.

Tuxedo Mask watched the _talking cat_ run off with a feeling of utter shock. _Luna does talk!_ he thought to himself in amazement. _And Serena transformed into a young woman before my very eyes! What is going on here?_

***

Serena ducked back into cover behind the bus as two hulking Youma, which resembled gigantic orange play-dough homunculi, strode past muttering in some alien language. The passage through the wormhole, or _whatever _it was, had been completely disorienting. She had lost all sensation of place and time for a few moments before regaining consciousness _here_. 

She peeked out from her hiding place, under the rear bumper of the bus and tried to figure out where 'here' was. Whoever did the interior decorating was obviously into the 'early Transylvanian' style. It was either a temple or a castle of some kind, with lots of stone arches, high, vaulted flying buttresses and darkened galleries. The primary source of lighting was either torchlight or some kind of magic. This only provided a low level of illumination and added to the general feeling of menace.

Serena looked at the captive girls, the previous victims of the Hell Heists, who seemed to all be unharmed, but comatose. She could sense the dark power binding them. A Youma had dragged an apparently-unconscious Raye off the bus and had dropped her in front of the other captives. Now the bus driver, whose clothes had melted into a grey uniform, was staring at the Miko with a disturbing intensity. _Okay, Bunny-chan, _Serena told herself, _this is it. You're a super-heroine, so you have to save all the people._ The question was, how was she going to do that without Luna?

Suddenly she remembered her communicator. She flipped the device open and was about to press the black button when she remembered that she had last seen her guardian in Tuxedo Mask's arms. _Lucky lady_, she thought, but that meant she might not be in a position to talk right now. Instead, she touched the switch marked with the sigil of Mercury…

***

Back in the subjectively 'real' world, Amy and Luna were having a frantic conference while Amy tried to locate Serena's communicator signal. "She isn't anywhere within the Earth/Moon system, Luna," Amy reported as she tapped out a quick series of commands into her TACS handset. "However, my computer insists that she is nearby…" Amy 'hummed' meditatively for a moment. "Let me try something different," she continued.

Luna was pacing up and down in front of the blue-haired girl, tearing at herself with guilt. "I should have been ready for her to try to rescue Raye," Luna was saying, mostly to herself. "She is still a child for Selene's sake! She can't handle something like this on her own." She was interrupted by Amy's gasp. "What is it?"

"My computer is showing some equations that resemble Einstein's wormhole equations," Amy said. "It looks like Serena is in a parallel dimension!"

"Yes, that makes sense," Luna said thoughtfully. "The Phantom Bus seemed to create some kind of energy door in that wall and passed through it…"

Amy raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and began to commune with her TACS system again. "Ah!" she said. "I have detected the energy signature of the wormhole!"

Luna nodded. "Good. Have your TACS duplicate the energy and re-open the wormhole."

Suddenly Amy's watch began to beep loudly. Amy flipped it open and Serena's tear-streaked face appeared. "_Amy-chan! Luna! One of you come in!_"

"I'm here Bunny," Amy said reassuringly. "We're coming to get you! Where are you anyway?"

"_Hey, you're the genius,_" Serena replied with a nervous, fearful smile. "_It looks like some kind of vampire's castle. There are a lot of Youma here, and a whole bunch of girls that seem to be held by a magical field._"

Luna jumped up onto Amy's shoulder so she could offer Serena some advice. "You will have to save them, Serena," she commanded. "Transform and try to keep the Enemy busy. We'll be with you shortly." Serena nodded stiffly and cut her communication link. 

Luna sighed and decided that there was no longer any time to plan. They would have to act immediately. "Amy, take these and keep them with you at all times," the cat said. She somersaulted through the air and Amy caught two fountain pens, like hers but one in green and the other in fire red. Amy placed the pens in what Luna had called her 'subspace pocket' as the cat climbed back onto her shoulders. "Now, Open the wormhole," Luna commanded quietly. Amy nodded silently and pressed a key on her handset. A green beam shot out of the compact palm-top computer and a green-white vortex once again began to appear in the wall of the office block. 

As Amy began to stride purposefully towards the quickly-opening dimensional portal, neither she nor Luna noticed the figure in a black tuxedo and white domino mask duck out from behind a tree and follow.

***

Jadeite had knelt before his new captive and was stroking her cheek. He felt entranced. It was impossible… but he _knew _this human girl! "You are special," he said coldly. "Beyond your beauty; I can feel a great potential power within you. Who _are_ you?"

Suddenly, Raye's eyes snapped open. She still couldn't move, but she felt herself falling into the cruel, icy-blue eyes of her captor. She knew him at once, and not just from her visions. Despite the magical paralysis that bound her body, her lips moved to form a word. "J… Jadeite…"

Jadeite's eyes opened wide. That voice…! "R… Reiya?" He blurted. There was something there… something _important_ that was hovering on the edge of his consciousness like a forgotten dream. There was something about this girl that called to him as if she were a part of him somehow… "Who are you?" he snarled and grabbed the girl by her shoulders and began to shake her violently. "Who are you? _Tell me!_"

***

"Okay, this is it," Serena said to herself. She rolled out from underneath the bus and touched her brooch. "Moon Prism Power…

***

Amy put away her handset and raised her ocean-blue Henshin Wand. "Mercury Power…"

***

"MAKE UP!"

There was a flash of light brighter than the sun and Serena was surrounded with blue-white ribbons of energy and flashing trails of stars. When the lights cleared, she was, once again, the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon. 

There were two Youma, more of the play-dough look-alikes, who were standing next to the front of the bus, apparently preparing it for its' next hell-heist. They noticed Serena's transformation immediately. One took a step towards Sailor Moon before her Moon Tiara slammed into its' midsection. There was a crescent-shaped flash of blue-white light and the Youma imploded into dust without a sound. The other Youma ducked into cover behind the front of the bus, unaware of the green-white wormhole that had just opened in the wall behind it. Before it had time to figure out its' next move, the Mercury Soul Blade jabbed through the approximate spot where its' heart would be (assuming that it had one) and it was moon-dusted too. 

Sailor Mercury jumped over the disintegrating remains of the second Youma and ran to her sister Senshi's side. Both saw Jadeite at the same moment and were aware of the aura of incorrigible evil that surrounded him. He was so focussed on Raye that he hadn't noticed the arrival of the Sailor Senshi. "I don't know what power it is you have over me, girl," he was whispering to the terrified and furious Raye. "Whatever it is, though, you are _mine_ now! You will tell me or you won't as you wish, but from now on you are mine to do with as I wish!"

At that moment Sailor Moon threw her Moon Tiara and shouted out. "Hey, bully! Leave her alone and pick on someone of your own power level!" The magically charged projectile struck Jadeite on the left temple and he went down like a sack of potatoes for a moment. Then he leapt back to his feet as Sailor Moon caught her returning tiara. "I won't let you victimise helpless girls," the blonde-haired Senshi announced. "Your crimes have led us to you, evil one, and now in the name of the Moon…"

"And of Mercury…" the blue-haired Senshi of Water and Wisdom added.

"We will punish you!"

Apparently forgotten, Raye was watching this with her mouth hanging open. _I know that voice…_ she thought as she listened to Sailor Moon's speech. _Bunny-chan…?_

Jadeite sneered. "Oh, I beg to differ, Sailor Moon," he hissed. "It has led _you_ to _me_, and I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. You will pay for all the times that you have opposed the Dark Kingdom of the Negaverse!" The Negaverse General stepped forwards and raised his hand in an idle-seeming gesture. Reflex took over as Serena and Amy dived in opposite directions, avoiding the wave of telekinetically-displaced air that Jadeite had just thrown at them. 

Amy raised her arms. "Mercury Bubbles Blast!" she cried out. There was a hissing noise and the entire medieval hall was suddenly filled with a freezing fog. "Sailor Moon! Free the hostages!" Mercury shouted over Jadeite's loud curses as he tried to find his enemies through the fog bank. 

"I'm already on it, Sailor Mercury," the Senshi of Love and Justice replied. Using the sensors in her mask to see through the fog, she quickly raced over to the imprisoned girls. She pulled out her soul blade and drove it into the green bubble that the sensors reported was surrounding them. The pure magic of the sword disrupted the dark magic bonds surrounding the hostages. The green bubble immediately vanished and Sailor Moon grinned in triumph. _Now to get them out of here…_ Serena thought.

At that moment the fog disappeared. A triumphant Jadeite was standing over a stunned and fallen Sailor Mercury. "Now, we shall finish this," he said in a bored tone of voice. Somehow Serena managed to avoid another telekinetic blast thrown at her by the Dark Kingdom General. Acting on trained reflex, she loosed her Tiara at her enemy. Unfortunately, Jadeite was ready for it this time and easily deflected the weapon with a psychic force field that he had materialised in the palm of his left hand. "Is that all you can do, girl?" he sneered. "Pathetic." With a gesture, he reached out and seized Sailor Moon with the power of his mind. He then drove her backwards and slammed her hard against one of the mighty stone columns that supported the roof. Serena cried out in pain; spots danced before her eyes and unconsciousness beckoned.

Jadeite had just a split second to react as he head the sudden electric hum of a soul blade very close behind him. If he had responded just a tenth of a second later, Sailor Mercury would have neatly decapitated him with her katana. Instead an icy blue and a blood red energy blade met with an electric yellow flash. Jadeite immediately countered with a series of high cuts. However, Mercury managed to block his every tack and he had to leap backwards to avoid being disembowelled by the snarling, feral-looking blue-haired girl. "Leave my friend alone you monster!" Sailor Mercury screamed.

Jadeite closed in again and tried to flip the sword from his diminutive adversary's hands. Instead, the girl disengaged and back-flipped away. "You are actually quite good," Jadeite sneered. "In time, you might have even been my equal, Sailor Mercury." He raised his hand and slammed the girl away from him with a telekinetic attack.

Serena had groggily pulled herself to her feet. "Luna," she gasped into her fuku's throat-mike, "he's too strong! We can't beat him!"

"_You have to keep strong, Sailor Moon!_" Luna replied over the radio from her hiding place underneath the bus. "_Keep pushing him! You have to beat him or all is lost!_"

Serena nodded and drew her own soul blade. She caught Jadeite's blood-red blade as it descended towards Amy's throat and knocked it aside. "It's not over yet, pal," Sailor Moon snarled.

There was another brief sword-fight. However, although Serena was skilled, Jadeite was a master-swordsman and he quickly knocked the girl off her feet. With an idle sweep of his sword he knocked Serena's sword aside and drove his blade down towards her exposed breast… And then his mind exploded into pain. A blood-red rose had just landed at his feet and was emitting some kind of psychic energy that had frozen his motor nerves. "What…? Who…? _Tuxedo Mask_!" Jadeite snarled.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Mask called out from where he was standing on top of the bus. 

Sailor Moon didn't have to be told twice. She lashed with a booted foot and caught Jadeite under the right knee. The Dark Kingdom General stumbled back as the Senshi of the Moon jumped to her feet. Serena launched forwards, her katana a blue-white fan of light as she twirled it around her head. Her blade slammed into Jadeite's red blade dozens of times and it was all he could do to block the attacks. Finally, Serena got an opening, first knocking Jadeite's blade downwards and then away to the right. She continued the motion, pirouetting around and slashing her sword across the general's chest.

Jadeite roared in pain and surprise as Sailor Moon raised her blade, pointed forwards from her right shoulder, and lunged forwards to impale her enemy through his black heart. Instead, she stumbled forwards off balance as Jadeite flashed into red light, blurred like a bad TV picture and vanished. "Where in all the hells has he gone?" Serena snapped, adrenaline and rage of battle roaring in her ears. 

"He's over there!" Tuxedo Mask snapped, pointing behind the two Senshi (Mercury had just staggered to her feet). The girls whirled to see Jadeite standing on the stone banister of one of the first-floor galleries surrounding the hall. He was bleeding _green _from the cut Sailor Moon had just opened on his chest. With a fierce scowl, Tuxedo Mask threw a needle-point-stemmed red rose at the Dark Kingdom General, which the blond man deflected with a wave of his hand.

"And now…" Jadeite snarled as he summoned a whirling red sphere of psychic energy between his hands.

"Sailor Moon!" Luna's voice was loud in the earpiece of the radio sown into Serena's fuku. "Use the new function of the Moon Tiara that we've discussed!"

"Right!" Serena responded loudly. "Moon Tiara… _Encircle_!" Serena threw her weapon towards Jadeite.

The Dark Kingdom General smirked as the tiara shot past him, a comfortable distance from his right elbow. "You get more pathetic by the moment, sailor brat," he snapped. The tiara shot back and began to circle tightly around him, laying down a string of nearly-invisible Moon Moth Silk as it did so. Within seconds, a furious Jadeite's arms were bound tightly to his side. "You treacherous little cow…! _Monsters of the Night! To my SIDE!_"

Several dozen ugly-looking Youma came boiling out of an archway. Tuxedo Mask watched for a second before deciding on his counter-stroke. "Sailor Moon isn't the only one with new tricks, evil one," he announced. He summoned a rose to his hand and charged it with the power of his planet. Then he threw the glowing blossom at the archway. The rose exploded on impact, burying the Youma under several tons of rock. 

Jadeite had fallen from the banister, but had somehow managed to land on his feet. "It ends, evil one," Sailor Moon announced, charging with her sword raised to decapitate him with one stroke. "It ends here and now!"

"Don't proclaim your triumph too soon, you little brat!" Jadeite shouted. His arms might be bound, but his mind was not. He lashed out telekinetically and sent the two Senshi flying across the hall. With another mental stroke, he knocked a surprised Tuxedo Mask from the top of the bus where he was perched. "Now, as soon as I get free…" he muttered, struggling with the nearly-unbreakable silk strands binding his arms.

Raye, who had been forgotten up to this moment, was watching with horror. She had pulled out an evil-expulsion charm and was pondering if it would be any use in this struggle. "Serena and her friend are in danger," she muttered. "They might die! I've got to do _something_… but what?" She was so desperate that something happened. Her powers rushed to the surface and a sigil began to glow on her forehead in a bright flame-red colour. It was a circle with an arrowhead pointing off of it upward and to the right. 

Luna saw this and gasped. "Pick up the Henshin Wand, Raye," she said, jumping out of cover to the banister directly above the young Miko. Raye was startled, but was to disoriented to disobey. She looked down and saw what looked like a red fountain pen sitting at her feet. Sailor Mercury had dropped it during the battle and it had been knocked towards her. 

She hesitantly picked up what she immediately sensed was a magical object. Power flowed through her and she repeated the words that echoed in her mind. "_Mars power! MAKE UP!_" Then she was ablaze, fire melting away flesh and clothing.

Jadeite, who was still trying to free himself, turned in some surprise as he sensed the enormous surge of power from the girl that so fascinated him earlier. His mouth dropped open when he saw what was standing in her place. "Oh… _no_…!" he gasped. "Not _another _one of you!"

Raye was now wearing a white sailor fuku with a flame-red neckerchief and a flame-red skirt, black bows on her breast and on the back of her belt. A strange medallion with the symbol of Mars was on the front of her belt. Her white elbow-length gloves had flame-red trim at the ends, she had a red choker and wore red knee-length high-heeled boots with black trim at the top. A golden v-shaped tiara with a red gem decorated her forehead.

"AKU-RYO-TAI-SAN!" Raye screamed, throwing her charm at the demonic man standing before her. Although the charm burst into flame the moment it touched Jadeite's forehead, it had the desired effect. The Dark Kingdom General's powers were disrupted, freeing Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mercury from his telekinetic grip.

"Now, finish him before he recovers!" Luna cried out from her perch. 

"Okay everyone," Serena cried out. "All attack together!"

Raye was totally disoriented, but she responded to the command, subconscious memories directing her motions. She raised her hands palm-first to Jadeite. "Mars fire… _ignite_!"

Amy raised her hands. She had been working on focussing her powers and had got a decent offensive move out of them. "Mercury bubbles… _blast_!"

Jadeite screamed in agony as the two attacks slammed into him, alternately freezing and then cooking his flesh. Serena wound up and threw her tiara as hard as she could. "Moon tiara… _action_!" The shining blue-white disc slammed into the Dark Kingdom General and, this time, he was too weak to protect himself. The purifying Moon magic shredded his essence, freeing his soul from its' bondage to the Dark Side and ripping apart his magically-sustained body.

With a final cry of pain, rage and… yes… and _triumph_, General Jadeite imploded into white light that boiled upwards like a fountain, illuminating the entire hall. As the last hint of his physical form vanished, Raye heard his voice in her head. _I am free at last,_ the voice whispered. _Thank you, my love._

Then he was gone, but the white energy fountain persisted. Before the startled gaze of the four young heroes, the energy began to eat away at the stones of the fortress. The whole hall began to shimmer like a heat mirage. "Without his powers, this place is being destroyed," Luna said. "Quickly, we have to get the hostages and get out of here!"

"I'll get the wheels," Tuxedo Mask announced, jumping into the cab of the bus. He easily cracked open the steering column, took out the lock and rotated the ignition control underneath the lock. There wasn't enough time to think, so Raye wasn't surprised that she was able to lift a full-grown woman in each hand as if they were a small handbag and carry them towards the bus.

Sailor Moon threw the last hostage onto the bus and leapt up beside Tuxedo Mask. "Okay, Cape-boy," she snapped, "let's book!"

Tuxedo Mask stabbed the only button that didn't seem to have a function and watched the wormhole form. He ground the gearshift into first gear and floored the gas pedal.

Behind them, Jadeite's castle was consumed by the elemental chaos from which it was formed…

***

The bus halted in the middle of the crossroads, scattering cars coming from five different directions. "Well, Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said with a dangerous smile that Sailor Moon found hauntingly familiar, "the crisis has passed, so I must take my leave of you."

"Wait! Who are you?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Would you believe that I am not sure?" Tuxedo Mask asked, as he stepped out of the bus's entrance doors. "However, no matter if the politics of our worlds makes us enemies or allies, Sailor Moon, always be assured that I am your friend." Then, he cupped the startled Senshi's cheeks in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Then he pressed a thorn-less long-stemmed rose into her hand and leapt away. He was lost to the girl's sight in a moment.

"Oh wow…" Serena gasped. "Tuxedo Mask… _Aishiteru…_"

There was a groan from one of the girls piled unceremoniously in the aisle of the bus. Freed from the fortress of the Dark Kingdom, they were recovering from their magically-induced comas. It was quickly clear that none of them had any memories of what had happened to them. "Huh… Wh… Where am I?" Mimi Rogers said. Raye's heart leapt to see the girl so clearly unharmed.

A girl who Serena vaguely recognised as one of her schoolmates looked at the nearby bus-stop. "Sendai Hill?" The girl said in a confused tone of voice. "I… I thought that I caught the bus from this stop and was on my way home!"

Luna meowed urgently. Amy jumped off the bus and Serena grabbed Raye by the arm to drag her off too. When the three Senshi reached the shadow of the Shrine, Raye finally recovered her wits enough to speak. "What is this?" she blurted as she looked at her uniform, taking special note of the red light leaking out from some parts of her costume. "What are these _clothes_?"

"Raye," Luna said, "I am proud to say that you are one of a special sisterhood." Luna paused to make sure that Raye was listening and _understanding_ her words before continuing. "You are the Senshi who wields fire, the Chosen One and protector of the planet Mars. You are the Senshi of Flame and Passion, _Sailor Mars_! It is good to finally meet you in the flesh." 

The young Miko stared at the talking cat for a few moments before laughing in a slightly shrill tone. "M… Me? A super-heroine?"

Suddenly, Sailor Moon took off her mask, revealing that she was, indeed, Serena Moonlight. "It is true, Raye-chan," she said quietly. "You are a Senshi, just like me and just like my good friend Amy Anderson, otherwise known as Sailor Mercury."

Amy curtsied with a reassuring smile. "At your service," she chuckled. "Sailor Moon and I been searching very hard for you, you know Raye."

Serena gathered up Luna. "Like Luna here says, Sailor Mars, it is good to meet you."

Raye was finally coming to terms with the evidence of her senses. "You know, it all makes a kind of crazy sense when I think about it," she said at last. "My psychic powers. They are because I am this… Sailor Mars? Because I am one of the Sailor Senshi that are always in the news these days?"

Serena nodded. "The Senshi of Mars has always been a seer, on top of her mastery of the element of fire," Luna explained. "It was one of the clues that led us to you."

She watched as her two sisters dispelled their transformations, and were suddenly clearly Serena Moonlight and a blue-haired girl in a similar school uniform. Raye's fuku flowed into her Miko's robes as she ran towards her two newfound friends and the three girls hugged each other tightly.

***

Far, far away, yet close by, Nephrite, newly-appointed as the First General of the Dark Kingdom, was watching the last moments of the battle in Jadeite's fortress again in a crystal ball. "Alas, poor Jadeite," he laughed. "I knew you far too well for my comfort." With a gesture he dismissed the image in the crystal and turned away towards a huge holographic astrolabe hovering in the air above him. "Now, my dear Senshi, you will find that the stars know _everything_. And you will soon wish that you had let my late, unlamented colleague live; For _I _will not fail as he did."

__

To be continued…


	4. Shining Gem

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A Hero is Born

Based on the Sailor Moon Manga

Original Story by Naoko Takeuchi

Adapted and novelised by BenRG

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Legal Disclaimer

Sailor Moon, her friends and her enemies are all the creation of the wonderful and lively Naoko-sama. I am only a devoted follower and fan. How could I ever claim to own such a wonderful story? I know my limits…

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Book 4 – Shining Gem

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Chapter 1 – A Growing Band

Only few weeks had passed since the great battle of Sendai Hill, and, despite the destruction of what seemed to be one of the Enemy's most senior operatives, the pressure on the Sailor Senshi continued to grow. This night in early April was, thank the gods, a quiet one. No monster roamed the streets of Tokyo, and the new Enemy commander, Nephrite, did not have another one of his subtle plans in motion.

Serena Moonlight, Amy Anderson and Raye Blaise slept like the dead, their youthful bodies exhausted by several days of almost continual fighting. Meanwhile, Luna was in a hidden operations room, updating the files on her three charges, their allies and their enemies.

The small black cat with the golden moon mark on her forehead had to smile as she looked at the photographs of the three girls to whom fate had entrusted the future of the world. Serena's smile was full and open, revealing her love of mischief and her honest and innocent soul. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with vitality. Amy's smile seemed a bit… false, somehow. However, this did not surprise Luna. Amy was under a lot of pressure, both (unwittingly) from her successful mother and from her own ambitions. Although she publicly praised the Senshi of Water and Wisdom's single-minded focus before the other two girls, privately she always cheered silently whenever Raye or Serena forced the girl to stop studying and relax for a few hours. Raye's photograph was unintentionally funny. Raye had tried to smile as requested, but it came out a bit odd. Somehow, Raye's smile almost never really reached her sad violet-coloured eyes.

Luna had already decided that Raye was not, as she initially thought, the princess they were searching for. Raye, despite her power and poise, had a fearfully short temper. The clumsy and often slow-witted Serena was often the target of the Senshi of Fire and Passion's tantrums. However, the girl (apart from a theatrical show of tears) never really seemed to care. There was sadness in her eyes afterwards, but Luna always felt that it was sadness _for_ Raye, not because of Raye.

3 3 3

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Serena 'Bunny' Moonlight

Sailor Moon

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Date of Birth: 30 June 1978

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Residence: Minato-ku, Juubian District, Tokyo, Japan

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Blood Type: O

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Star Sign: Cancer

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Amy Anderson

Sailor Mercury

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Date of Birth: 10 September 1978

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Residence: Mugen Delta, Juubian District, Tokyo, Japan

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Blood Type: A

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Star Sign: Virgo

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Raye Blaise

Sailor Mars

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Date of Birth: 14 April 1978

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Residence: Sendai Hill, Juubian District, Tokyo, Japan

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Blood Type: AB

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Star Sign: Aries

3 3 3

Luna looked at the fourth picture, a slightly blurred shot, but usable nonetheless. The camera hidden in the traffic signal outside the Crown Arcade had caught Darien Shields in a thoughtful mood. His midnight blue eyes were stormier and more dangerous than usual. A breath of wind had blown a few strands of his rebellious black hair across his face. Luna looked at the accompanying data sheet. They knew very little about this young man, other than the fact he was approximately four years older than the girls and that he had a habit of turning up wherever Serena might be.

__

Who are you, Mr. Shields? Luna thought to herself. _Are you a friend or are you a foe? Either way, you are an interesting one. What is it that all the Senshi feel from you that fascinates them so? Especially Serena…?_

***

Next morning, as the birds sang and the more discordant chorus of traffic on nearby roads filtered into the Moonlight home, Ilene was reading the morning _Tokyo Daily News_. She was looking at the main headline with undisguised fascination. 'Battle in Juubian Park' the newspaper declared, 'Sailor Senshi Save the Day!' Ilene shook her head at the low-quality images of Sailors Moon, Mars and Mercury fighting a monster seemingly a cross between a scantily-clad woman and a forest of vines, in Juubian Park the previous day. She could clearly see that Sailor Mars was throwing a fireball while what seemed to be a stream of fog was jetting from Sailor Mercury's hands. Sailor Moon was in the middle of an acrobatic somersault, throwing a blue-white disc of pure energy at the monster.

Ilene surprised herself by smiling in pride at the sight of Tokyo's own super-hero team in action. _Eat that, male chauvinists, _she thought. _The whole city saved by three girls!_ She sighed as she looked at the badly blurred face-shots of the three Senshi, noting the paper's apology and the explanation that it seemed impossible to get a clear photograph of their faces. Although it was difficult to see their faces, she could clearly see Sailor Moon's infectious, excited smile. _She seems so young_, Ilene thought mournfully. _What kind of parent lets such a young girl fight nightmares from hell every night?_

"Morning, Mom!" Ilene looked up with more than a little surprise as her daughter came downstairs with more than ten minutes to spare before she had to leave for school. The girl was yawning mightily as she fixed her hairdo. Ilene felt a little shock when she realised that her firstborn wore the same hairstyle as Sailor Moon! Well, at least there was no chance of _this_ girl fighting monsters night after night!

"Serena, darling, good morning!" Ilene said. "You've left it a bit late, dear, but there is enough time for a little breakfast first."

Serena smiled in a wan, tired way before slumping down at the breakfast table. "What's the matter, Onee-chan?" Sammy asked, genuinely worried. "First you're up at a normal time, and you look so tired. All the manga and low grades finally affecting your health?"

"Sammy!" Ilene snapped, giving her smart-alec son a smack upside of the head. Much to Ilene's pride, Serena didn't respond. She just shot her younger brother a look of utter scorn before returning to her morning pancakes.

With her two children, if not well behaved at least presenting a fair facsimile of such, Ilene returned to her paper. On the third page was an article jumped out at caught the woman's attention. 'Princess Desiré visits Tokyo!' the headline screamed. 'Treasure of the Kingdom of Diamunte on show!" Ilene read the article with interest it seemed that the crown princess of a small, rich eastern-European nation was visiting the Japanese capital. With her came the greatest treasure ever produced by her diamond-rich country.

As Ilene read the article and tried to imagine the treasure that was scheduled go on show, Serena's cat, Luna, entered through the recently-installed cat-flap and rubbed against her mistress' legs. "What is it Luna?" Serena asked in such a way that gave Ilene the oddest impression that the girl expected an answer. The cat meowed significantly and looked towards the clock. Serena's eyes bugged out! "It's getting late! I've got to move!" Serena gasped. She took a mouthful of orange juice and grabbed her bag. "See you this evening Mom!" she gave Ilene a brief kiss on the cheek before turning to leave. She ruffled Sammy's hair. "Take care, Fungus! Don't die _too_ messy, I want you presentable for the funeral!" Then the girl ran for the door, her cat hard on her heels.

"Some times, I think that I'll never understand that girl," Ilene said with a sigh. 

***

More out of habit than necessity, Serena was sprinting down the streets towards Juubian Junior High School, Luna racing along beside her. "Come on, Luna, we've got to move!" Serena called to her cat, who just shot her a disgusted look.

Serena was so used to the morning race to school after several years that she could do it virtually on autopilot. This meant that she could spare more of her attention to events around her than would normally be possible. This morning, as Serena raced along, she immediately noticed something was wrong. _Gee, there are a lot of cops around!_ she thought. _I wonder what is going on?_

Although Serena could normally navigate to school while daydreaming, this ability didn't include avoiding unanticipated obstacles, like the tall young man in a bright green jacket who turned the corner and walked right into her path. Serena had just enough time to gasp in horror before striking the man full-on and sending them both tumbling to the ground. "G… gomen, sir," she stammered as she staggered to her feet.

"It's alright Ondango Atama," the man replied. "I'm used to it by now." 

Serena looked into the man's stormy midnight-blue eyes, which peered out from behind an untidy thatch of raven black hair and nearly screamed in anger, frustration and a strange kind of comfort that she didn't want to have to identify. "_You again_!" she shouted at Darien Shields. Darien simply smiled and offered Serena his hand to help her get up.

3 3 3

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From the journal of Serena Caroline Moonlight

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4th April 1992 

You know, dear diary, I never realised that being the Champion of Love and Justice would be so much work! Luna (my talkative cat-guardian) tells me that I have a whole slew of orders. 

Firstly (and obviously), I have to keep fighting these pesky enemies, who aren't even human! Recently, we (and I'll explain who 'we' is in a moment, diary, so be patient) took out this high-ranking bad guy named Jadeite. Unfortunately, an even worse bad guy named Nephrite has taken over where Jadeite left off. If anything, the fighting has got worse. Nephrite doesn't attack directly, but he turns ordinary people's dreams and desires against them. It has always been scary being Sailor Moon, but now it is getting really, really frightening.

Secondly, I have to find out who my fellow Sailor Senshi are. I'm the Senshi for the Moon, and I have found the Senshi of Mars and Mercury. So, I guess there must be one for every planet. According to what my dad has told me, that means that there may be as many as seven of them left to find! Talk about a lot of work!

Amy Anderson is the smartest girl in school. You would have heard me talking about her before, Diary. She's quite lonely because her Mom is always at work and she's always studying. I'm her first proper friend (imagine that)! She's also Sailor Mercury, the Champion of Water and Wisdom. She isn't the strongest fighter, but she is super-smart and, with her little computer, she can find the weakness in any monster.

Raye Blaise is a trainee Shinto Priestess, and boy does she have a hot temper! She is always shouting at me about being late or not studying hard enough. She can be mean sometimes, but I get the feeling that she is really upset about something other than me. I think that there is something that has really hurt her and I aim to find out what it is and make it better. She is also Sailor Mars, the Champion of Fire and Passion. She can shoot flame or throw fireballs, so I call her 'Pyro' whenever she calls me 'Ondango'.

Thirdly, we have to find the 'Silver Imperium Crystal'. Luna says that it is a really powerful energy source and weapon. Our Enemy is looking for it too, so we are in kind of a race.

Luna has told us that we three Sailor Senshi are the guardians of a princess who can use the Silver Imperium Crystal to seal away our enemy forever. With the way the battles are getting harder, it is more important than ever that we find her, and we to protect her.

3 3 3

The young people of class 2-1 of Juubian Junior High School looked up in some amazement as Serena barged through the door, completely out-of-breath. Several of them looked at the class clock and double-checked their wristwatches. Yes, as stunning as it seemed, Serena Moonlight had arrived at school before the first late bell rang. Serena looked around at the stunned faces and just managed to avoid smiling smugly. "Hi guys," she said quietly, before threading through the desks to her desk in between Molly Baker and Melvin Morton.

"Bunny-chan! You made it on time again!" Molly said to her friend. "This is getting quite a habit, ne? You even managed to beat Miss H today!" 

Serena didn't know whether she should be pleased or insulted by Molly's words. Did Molly-chan _really_ think that she was incapable of making it to school on time? _Bunny-chan_, she reminded herself, _up to a few months ago, you _were_ incapable of making it to school on time…_

Molly interrupted Serena's candid self-examination. "Say," she said, "did you see all the cops around town today?"

Serena nodded. "What's going on, Molly-chan? I've never seen so many! They were stopping cars, even checking litter bins!" 

"There is going to be a VIP visitor to our bit of town tonight," Molly explained. As she continued, Luna sneaked into the classroom, unnoticed by all. "Princess Desiré of Diamunte is staying at their embassy on Sendai Hill! They are going to have a _huge_ formal ball! Like, everyone from the Prime Minister to the Crown Prince himself is going to be there!"

"A real princess visiting Juubian? Wow!" Serena was impressed. _Could she be _our_ princess?_ she wondered. Luna's ears pricked up when she heard this bit of news. She looked around and noticed that, as usual, Miss Haruna had left her copy of the _Nippon Times_ on her desk. She jumped up and began leafing through the pages, looking for the Court Circular announcements page.

"Diamunte is famous for its' high-quality diamond mines," Molly, the child of a famous family of gem merchants, explained to her enchanted classmates. "Grandpa says that they mine the finest diamonds on earth _and_ are better at cutting and polishing than anyone else. Most of those mines are state-owned, so Princess Desiré is going to inherit a, like, _huge_ fortune when she grows up! I bet the embassy will be _filled_ with handsome princes trying to catch her eye!"

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Handsome princes… Serena thought dreamily. Without any conscious effort on her part, the masked face of _her_ handsome prince appeared to her mind's eye. _I wonder if Tuxedo Mask-sama will be there tonight?_ she wondered with a sigh.

"And that's not all," Molly continued, not noticing her best friend's suddenly drifting attention. "Apparently, the Princess has brought her country's biggest treasure with her! She is going to show it at the climax of the ball tonight! The Diamunte Treasure is supposed to be the most beautiful crystal ever found!"

Serena's attention suddenly snapped back to the here-and-now. "Molly-chan, did you just say a beautiful crystal?" she asked urgently.

Molly looked at her friend in surprise. "Uh… yeah!" she said, sounding a bit alarmed at Serena's sudden absolute attention. "I've heard some say that it glows." Serena shot Luna a significant glance. The small black cat nodded and looked back at the paper. The article she was reading concerned the ball that night. 'Desiré, heir to the throne of Diamunte to display the secret Treasure of Diamunte at tonight's Embassy Ball!' the paper proclaimed. Luna scowled at the lack of information about the princess herself. People said that she was shy and reserved. Apart from a few official portraits, which few people outside Diamunte had seen, there were no pictures of the young woman in the world.

Luna pondered over these facts as Molly, following Serena's gaze, saw Luna sitting on Miss H's paper. The redheaded girl laughed and walked over to her best friend's pet. "Hey, Bunny-chan, look! Luna is trying to read Miss H's paper," she announced. "You are so kawaii," Molly said lovingly. She stroked the cat's smooth, silky fur. Luna was so absorbed in reading the article on Princess Desiré that she barely noticed. 

**__**

Chapter 2 – The Mysterious Princess

She can't win this time, Raye Blaise thought confidently as she watched her companion and friend press the button that set the rotors on the fruit machine spinning. _It is impossible to have a winning streak on these things_. As Raye watched, her friend's icy blue eyes seemed to lose focus. The girl's hand hovered over the 'stop' button for a few moments before she slapped it three times, seemingly at random intervals. The fruit machine's three rotors stopped, each showing a golden bell. The sound of game tokens pouring into the 'pay' trough at the base of the machine echoed through the Crown Arcade, even over the sound of the other games.

Raye looked at Amy Anderson in disbelief. "That… that was three… _three _times in a row!" she said at last. "How… how did you do that?"

Amy smiled in her gentle, understated way. "It is a simply application of the arts of mathematics and hand-eye co-ordination Raye-san," she replied. She didn't feel comfortable enough around the raven-haired beauty to use the intimate 'chan' suffix just yet. "I can show you how if you like."

Raye spluttered in disbelief as Amy started collecting her small fortune in tokens. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar blonde head with two buns and two pigtails over the crowds of kids in the arcade. She muttered a prayer of thanks. Serena's arrival was a welcome distraction from the fact that Amy had won about 10,000 yen over the last three minutes when Raye had blown most of her allowance for that week. "Ondango Atama, you are late!" Raye snapped. "Some of us have better things to do than wait for you, you know!"

"Well, she has a valid excuse this time," Luna announced as she jumped up onto the top of the game machine beside which Amy and Raye were standing. "She flunked her science test today, so she had to stay behind." The cat looked at Amy pleadingly. "You are already doing a lot, I know Amy, but I would be grateful if you could help Serena study for her science classes."

Raye sneered at Serena. "You are always flunking your tests, Ondango!" she snapped. "What is wrong with you anyway? Are you reading so much Manga that it is rotting your brains?"

Serena scowled at Raye. Despite the appearances, they actually _liked_ each other, but Raye was a caustic one who only felt happy if she was in an argument. "My brains are in better shape than yours must be, _Pyro_," she spat back. "After all, most of them are _your_ Manga! What must owning all of them do to _your_ brains?"

"Yeah! They're mine and I have to nag you to give them back!" Raye shouted.

"Well, I take my time reading them!" Serena shouted defensively. She _wasn't_ going to admit to Raye that she was such a scatterbrain that she sometimes forgot that they weren't actually _her _Manga.

"So we add reading to the list of skills that you lack!" Raye cried triumphantly.

__

Low blow! Serena thought with a wince. Tears started in her eyes. "Raye Blaise! Take that _slander_ back…!"

"And if I won't, Ondango Atama?" Raye asked snootily.

"And stop using that nickname!" Serena wailed. "Ooh! You are so… _mean_!" She sucked down a sob in her best theatrical manner and stuck out her tongue at Raye. "Nyaah!"

"Nyaah right back!" Raye replied, sticking her tongue out too.

Luna looked on as the two fourteen-year-olds entered a tongue-poking war. "Please!" she hissed. She lashed out and gave both Raye and Serena a swipe of her claws. The two girls blinked in surprise and pain and looked at the black cat in shock. Amy was laughing heartily behind her hands. "Now that we are all here," Luna continued in a more discreet tone, "we can move onto Senshi business."

Serena rolled her eyes. Raye drew herself up to her statuesque full height and flipped her hair over her shoulder aristocratically. "I'm really too busy for this 'Senshi' nonsense," she said haughtily. "With my duties at the Shrine _and_ my schooling, I don't have time to go rushing around town on an open-ended crusade just on your say-so!"

Luna looked at Raye levelly. "Raye Blaise, we do not chose our destinies," she said quietly. "We simply live them."

Raye blinked. That was the closest that Luna had ever come to scolding her, and it had shocked her into silence for a moment. "Look, Luna, there are too many mysteries here," she said in a slightly more reasonable tone. "You've told us that we're looking for a princess. Who is she? Can you at least tell us of which _country_ she is a princess? What about you? How does a cat learn to talk? If you won't tell us who and what you really are, well I'm not going to be involved with this any longer!" Raye folded her arms firmly and looked around at Serena and Amy in a triumphant way. Amy squirmed nervously. Serena, who had started playing _Sailor V – Fighter_, seemed unaware of the simmering argument.

There was a long pause. "Are you quite finished Sailor Mars?" Luna asked gently. Raye was surprised at Luna using the name of her alter ego, but managed to nod stiffly. "That's good. Now I'm not going to tell you this again, Raye. I cannot give you any of those answers, at least not yet. It would put our Princess in danger. Besides, I can confidently say that you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Luna walked along the tops of the games machines until she was eye-to-eye with Raye. "Frankly, Raye, you are not remotely _ready_ to hearthose answers. Even Serena is closer to being ready for that step than you are."

Raye's eyes bulged out in fury at the dismissive way that Luna had just brushed her off. Before she could explode, Amy spoke up. She was terrified at the thick, angry tension that had flared up between Raye and Luna and wanted to do something to diffuse the tension. "Luna, you have to give us _some_ clues," she protested quietly. "Can't you tell us anything? What about the nature of the Enemy and that 'Silver Imperium Crystal' that we are supposed to find?"

Luna sat back and looked at Amy thoughtfully. "The enemy is something of a mystery to me too, Amy," she said at last. "I know that they are from beyond the boundaries of our reality, but I can't understand how they came to be able to enter our universe."

Amy and Raye exchanged a confused look. "Why don't you know anything?" Raye asked sharply. "Weren't we chosen to fight them? As our guide you should…"

"No, that isn't the case at all," Luna interrupted. "The Senshi are the personal bodyguards of the Silver Princess. You were chosen to protect her, with your lives if necessary. It just happens that defeating the Enemy and protecting the Princess are the same thing at the moment. Now, the reason that we have to _find_ Her Royal Highness is because she was magically… how to describe it…? She was 'sealed away' in a fashion."

"Sealed away?" Amy parroted in wonder.

"Why?" Raye asked.

"To ensure she wasn't found easily," Luna explained. "I suspect that the Princess has the Silver Imperium Crystal with her right now. It is her birthright, after all, and it is bonded to her soul on a fundamental level." Luna looked at Raye and Amy to ensure she had their full attention before continuing. "The Silver Imperium Crystal is a shard of the fundamental magic that underlies the universe," the cat explained. "It possesses unspeakable power to heal or to destroy. We _cannot_ allow the Enemy to take control of it, or all is lost."

"That is a lot of responsibility for three fourteen-year-old girls and a talking cat," Serena muttered from where she was pushing further than ever into her favourite video game.

Luna smiled. "Well, you will have a lot of help along the way," she replied. "There are still two Senshi for you to find. Additionally, you three have only begun to explore your abilities. Eventually, you will learn to use increasingly powerful manifestations of your powers. Only when your powers are complete will the princess be unsealed and revealed to you." Luna looked up at her audience and smiled. "And that is all I can say for now, girls," she added gently. 

"Completing our powers?" Raye asked. "You mean like the way I learnt to throw fireballs instead of just emitting jets of flame?" Raye asked. She had been proud of her new 'Fire Soul' attack. She felt that it proved that she was the most powerful of the Senshi, and, therefore, a better leader than Serena.

"In some ways, yes," Luna agreed. "What you fail to realise is _how_ this will take place. You see, you already possess these powers, you simply must _remember_ them to use them."

There was a shocked silence. "Remember…?" Raye asked in shock. That didn't make any sense at all.

"Yes, Remember, especially Serena," Luna said. She looked at the blonde girl, whose attention was now focussed entirely on her game. "As the first Senshi awakened in this era, you are destined to lead the Princess' bodyguard." Luna noticed how Raye bristled when she heard that, but chose to ignore the Chosen One of Mars' ambitious dreams for now. "In the short term, that means that you have to _shape up _and be less _irresponsible_!" There was no response to this announcement. Luna jumped onto Serena's head and slapped the girl's cheeks a few times with her paws. "Serena, pay attention!" she screeched. "This is important!"

"Yeah, I've got to shape up and be less irresponsible," Serena said, continuing to play her favourite video game. "We have to remember how to use our other powers too." That perfect recall stunned Luna into silence.

"How does she _do _that?" Raye asked herself in a surprised tone of voice.

Luna was about to reply when she saw Andrew Fuller, the son of the owner of the Crown Arcade, walking over. She mewed once in warning and everyone tried to look innocent, except Serena, who remained focussed on her game of _Sailor V-Fighter_.

"Hey, Bunny-chan," Andrew said, ruffling Serena's hair in a brotherly way. Serena giggled and blushed. Andrew crouched to he could whisper in the ear of the girl who he saw as a surrogate baby sister. "Have I thanked you recently for bringing all your cute friends to the Arcade?" Serena's blush got even brighter, making Andrew grin. "So," he asked, "what's up with all the cops around today?" 

Serena had been so totally thrown by Andrew's close proximity and his subconscious flirting that she had immediately lost the game. She shook her head as she looked at the 'You're Dead' graphic on the screen. _Maybe Luna is right,_ she mused, _maybe I do need to focus more_. She shook her head again and turned her attention to her Onii-san's question as Amy replied. 

"Apparently Princess Desiré of Diamunte is visiting her country's embassy in this district tonight," Amy explained in her precise voice. 

"A princess, huh?" Andrew said. Much to Serena's jealousy and annoyance, the young man's eyes became misty and unfocussed. He rubbed his chin and looked out into nothing. "I wonder if she's blonde and glamorous?" Andrew asked with a stupid smile on her face.

Serena sighed. _Face it, Bunny-chan_, she thought. _He isn't interested in you, and he will _never _be interested in you_. 

Luna settled down a little on her charge's head, making Serena grunt in discomfort. The cat had been eating well at the Moonlight household and she was getting too heavy to sit on Serena's head. "The Treasure of Diamunte makes me nervous," she murmured to Serena. "Something like that is bound to attract the Enemy's attention." Serena pursed her lips in worry as she nodded in agreement.

Much to everyone's surprise, Melvin came bustling over carrying what looked like a movie poster all rolled up in one hand. "Once again, the 'Net Rat saves the day," the small boy declared in his usual bombastic tone of voice. As soon as everyone was looking at him, the boy waved the rolled up poster. "It wasn't easy, but I was able to locate a site on lesser European monarchies that has a jay-peg file of an official portrait of Princess Desiré!" Melvin puffed out his chest proudly before unrolling the picture he was carrying with the suitable flourish of unveiling a great work of art.

Everyone's mouths dropped open. "Oh," Amy said with a fixed smile, a great droplet of sweat appearing at the side of her face. Similar droplets appeared beside Serena, Raye, Luna and Andrew's faces.

"That's… Princess Desiré?" Raye asked, her voice sounding weak and uncertain.

"Hmm… er…" was all Andrew could say.

"She… er… looks like your kind of girl, Melvin," Serena offered with a game smile.

"You think so?" Melvin asked, sounding flattered. Princess Desiré had beautiful long blonde hair and the unknown artist had pictured her sitting on a bench in a beautiful flower garden. She was holding a small bouquet of posies up to her round, good-natured face and smiling uncertainly. What stood out, however, were her spectacles, which had the thickest lenses that Serena had ever seen. 

Serena laughed kindly. "Yeah, I know so, Melvin," she said. She leaned back on her seat and looked up into the sky in a dreamy fashion. "I bet that she will be wearing the most beautiful dress tonight," she announced with a sigh. "I wanna go to the ball, guys. I wanna see the Princess and see her treasure!"

"That's not a good idea," Raye announced. Serena looked at her black-haired friend with concern. Her violet eyes had gone blank in the way that Serena had come to associate with the other girl's psychic flashes. "I have a bad feeling guys," she said quietly. "There is going to be… trouble tonight. I am sure of it."

Serena reached out and touched Raye's forearm. The other girl jumped involuntarily and came back to the 'here-and-now', staring at Serena uncertainly. "All the more reason for us to go," Serena said, an atypical maturity shining in her cerulean blue eyes.

***

In a mansion on a hill overlooking the city of Tokyo, General Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom was standing in front of a huge holographic astrolabe. Overhead a sophisticated three-dimensional image of the visible stars around the Earth hung in the air. Using a laser pointer, the brown-haired man was tracing out arcane lines and connections between the major stars. "The stars know everything," he announced quietly. "Show me now the hiding place of the Silver Imperium Crystal. Show me how to defeat the Sailor Senshi!"

Despite his outward calm, Nephrite was a desperate man. After his confident promises of a swift victory after the fall of Jadeite, Queen Beryl had given him little room for failure. With the Senshi growing ever stronger, Nephrite was beginning to wonder if he would live long enough to enjoy the rank that he had so recently acquired. Suddenly, he saw a pattern in the heavens. "What is this? A little princess visiting Tokyo? And she brings a gem with her? Ah!" 

Nephrite dismissed the astrolabe with a gesture and turned away. "I saw about the visit of Princess Desiré of Diamunte in this morning's news periodicals," he said to himself. "Could she be the Silver Princess? Might her treasure be the Silver Imperium Crystal? I must investigate this matter myself!"

"Yes, do investigate this promising clue, General," hissed a dangerous, feminine voice. 

Nephrite stiffened and his skin went ghostly white. He turned and fell to his knees before Queen Beryl. "Your Majesty!" he gasped. "If I had known that you had intended to visit my headquarters I would have…"

Beryl did not give Nephrite the chance to finish. She touched him on the shoulder with the tip of her staff. "Rise, my General," she commanded coldly. Nephrite rose to his feet, his expression reflecting fear and uncertainty, which was just the way that Beryl liked it. "I had great hopes for you, Nephrite," Beryl announced. "However, despite your different methods from the late General Jadeite, you are no more successful. Now tell me, why should I continue to have you lead my armies?"

Nephrite swallowed. "Majesty, no stratagem is guaranteed to succeed, as you well know," he said nervously. "I continue my search for the prize, as well as for a way to defeat our enemies. I assure you, it is only a matter of time before their luck runs out and we emerge victorious! Even now, I am preparing to investigate what may be the hiding place of the Silver Imperium Crystal. At the very least, I am certain to acquire all the energy of those attending this gathering…"

Despite the fact that Beryl was a good three inches shorter than Nephrite, she still managed to look down on the man with long brown hair. "I, too have heard of the Treasure of Diamunte," she told him. "I hope that you succeed in your mission tonight, Nephrite, for your own sake." She turned to leave, the four hulking Youma acting as her escort falling in to formation around her. "I cannot wait to look upon the beauty of the Silver Imperium Crystal myself," the Dark Queen hissed. "Bring it to me now, Nephrite. After placing my trust in you, I have little time for excuses… or _failure_!"

General Nephrite watched as Beryl, with a wave of her staff, opened a trans-dimensional portal. The Dark Queen stepped through with her escort and then she was gone, the portal closing behind her. When he was alone again, he noticed something. His hands were shaking.

**__**

Chapter 3 – Belle of the Ball

Serena unlocked the door and stepped into her home. Raye was a step behind her, then the two girls had to turn and urge Amy to enter the Moonlight family home too. The three girls had decided that they should stick together for the day until they decided how they would respond to the matter of the Treasure of Diamunte. "Hi, anyone home?" Serena called out.

"Hi, honey!" Ken Moonlight called, stepping from behind the doorway in between the dining room to the living room. He smiled when he saw his daughter's two impressive new friends: Amy was the daughter of a famous artist and the Director of the Tokyo University Hospital. Raye was the daughter of a prominent Representative in the Diet, as well as the granddaughter of one of Tokyo's most respected holy men. He couldn't help be pleased that his daughter had honoured their family by finding two such prominent families to befriend.

Serena waved to her father. "Hi, Papa," she called. "Where is mom…?" Serena paused before continuing. "And where's Sammy?"

"Your mother is visiting her parents tonight," Ken told his eldest child. "Your brother is at a sleep-over at one of his friends' houses. So, you will be pleased to hear that you and your friends will be your own mistresses for tonight." The man winked behind his expensive designer-framed spectacles and continued to adjust his bow tie. As an afterthought, he wagged a finger at his daughter. "I don't want any mess, do you hear?"

"Huh?" Serena blurted. "So what about dinner? And where are _you_ going, all dressed up in a tux?" Ken didn't notice that his daughter blushed when she mentioned his tuxedo. There were certain…associations… that Serena felt with that choice of clothing that she wasn't ready to face quite yet.

"There are some TV dinners in the freezer that you can cook in the microwave," Ken said. "As for me? Tonight, I'm covering the Embassy Ball at the Diamuntian Embassy for my paper!"

"You're going to Princess Desiré's ball?" Amy blurted, impressed enough to speak despite her shyness around Serena's family. Ken nodded with a smile and a wink to the shy blue-haired girl.

"No fair!" Serena couldn't help but wail. "I wanna go too!"

"I'm afraid that they aren't letting minors in tonight, Bunny-honey," Ken said with a shrug. "You'll probably see everything that there is to see on the TV tonight." Ken finished pulling on his tuxedo. He took his camelhair coat of its' hook, picked up his car keys and, with a kiss on the cheek for his little princess, walked out of the house.

Serena scowled and seriously considered sulking at the injustice of it all. The party event of the year and even her own _father_ was further up the list of guests that she! She was so focussed on this issue that she didn't hear Raye say "Bunny-honey!" and start sniggering tauntingly. 

"You know… This really is the best clue we've ever had," Serena suddenly said, picking at her bottom lip thoughtfully. Everyone fell silent and a great droplet of sweat appeared beside Luna's head. "Even if the Treasure of Diamunte _isn't_ the Silver Imperium Crystal, the Enemy is sure to check it out!"

"Now, Serena, don't go off half-cocked," Raye said urgently. "I've _really_ got a bad feeling about this party and…"

"Serena, they'll never let three schoolgirls in," Amy protested.

"Besides, I've got stuff to do," Raye added. "I can't goof off to go to some silly Embassy Ball!"

"Well, I think that we should investigate," Serena said with a wicked smile. "And as I'm the leader…" Serena reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out her Disguise Pen. "Disguise Power!" she cried out. Suddenly, blue-white light filled the living room of the Moonlight home. "Morph us into princesses!" Serena concluded. Ribbons of blue-white light surrounded Serena, Raye and Amy.

When the glare faded away, all three girls were a good six inches taller and their bodies were those of adults. Serena was wearing a beautiful strapless white ball-gown with a blue chiffon bow at the base of the plunging back, scarlet shoulder-gloves and pearly-white high-heeled shoes. Strings of pearls ran along the top of the dress and there were two more strings of pearls woven through her buns and down her long pigtails. The Moon Prism Brooch morphed into the centrepiece of a white silken choker around her throat.

Amy looked down at herself and gasped. She was wearing a sleeveless, icy-blue-white dress with a plunging v-shaped front and back. Royal blue roses were sown onto the shoulders of the dress and white ribbons were trailing down from the breast and the back of the dress.

Raye looked at herself in amazement. Her dress was raven black, so black that light seemed to fall into it and never emerge. There was a large, red silk shoulder piece that curved gracefully over the top of Raye's breasts, which extended down to waist-level and had a beautiful red rose sown into the very centre of the chest. All three girls were wearing silver tiaras that seemed to flow like quicksilver as they moved around. "Wow," was all Amy could say.

Raye looked down and swallowed. She had never _thought _that she could look like this. "Serena…" she said.

"Yeah, Raye-chan?"

"Why do I have to go?" Raye whined quietly.

***

Using one of her credit cards, Raye hired a cab to carry the three Senshi to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Diamunte. Luna declined the ride, saying that she would make her own way to the Embassy. 

Security was tight, but Serena was somehow able to fast-talk a way in for herself and her friends. Somehow, as soon as the Diamuntian soldiers saw them, they seemed to _know_ that they were princesses. Inside, the Embassy they immediately noticed that everyone was wearing butterfly-like eye masks. "A masquerade ball!" Serena gasped.

"That's bad," Luna said from a nearby window. She jumped down and threaded through the partygoers over to the Senshi. "It is going to make it nearly impossible for us to identify anyone."

"Come on, Luna," Serena said, "let's try and keep some optimism!" The girl pulled out her Disguise Pen and altered their disguise spells to give them masks. Raye's was blood red and shaped like a pair of eagle's wings. Amy's was aqua-coloured and shaped like a butterfly, right down to the antennae poking up from the bridge over her nose. Serena's was white and reminiscent of the feathery eye-mask that she wore as Sailor Moon. "Okay, guys," Serena murmured. "Spread out, stay in contact and watch for Enemy activity. Luna, I want you to find Princess Desiré and see if she is _our_ Princess, okay?" Luna nodded and raced off.

A few minutes later, Raye and Amy met up. "Have you seen Princess Desiré yet?" Raye asked.

"No," Amy said. "But with these masks, I could have spoken to her and not know." Raye nodded grimly. This was proving harder than expected. "Have you seen Bunny?" Amy asked.

Raye looked in the appropriate direction and saw Serena immediately. "Don't worry about her," Raye said, a droplet of sweat forming at the side of her face. "I think that she is… otherwise occupied."

Serena was standing in the middle of the ballroom, looking around herself in a dazed way. "It… it's like being in as movie," she gasped in awe. "Everyone all dressed up! And I'm dressed like a princess! I wish that at least one guy would ask me to dance!"

Serena didn't realise that someone else had spotted her. Kenneth Moonlight looked at the blonde beauty in scarlet and white with a dumbstruck expression. It was a tribute to the Disguise Pen's power that he didn't even suspect that this was his own daughter. Nonetheless, he was impressed. _If I wasn't married, I might even try my chances_, he thought. _The funny thing is her having that particular hairdo. She is just how I imagine my little Bunny growing up: a beautiful princess._

Suddenly, another woman jostled Serena. The woman was carrying a glass of red wine that she spilt down the girl's dress. The woman apologised and walked off, leaving Serena to deal with the aftermath. "Drat! That's gonna stain," she hissed, dabbing at it with her handkerchief. She span around, looking for a rest room so she could clean off the stain before it dried into the silky material of the dress. When she saw a restroom, she fled towards it, not noticing that she had dropped her handkerchief.

A white-gloved hand picked up the simple white cloth square with the embroidered bunny and a return label: 'Bunny – Juubian Junior High'. Tuxedo Mask frowned at the mute bit of cloth in his hands. In truth, he had never doubted it for a moment, but here was the proof.

After dealing with the stain, Serena re-emerged from the ballroom. In her haste, she had managed to get seriously turned around. She couldn't see Amy, Raye or Luna anywhere. Suddenly, she realised that she felt very lonely. Everyone was chatting to friends and acquaintances. Some couples were dancing, looking blissfully happy. A desire to have at least _one_ dance tonight suddenly struck Serena hard.

"Hello, little warrior maiden," a smoky, dangerous male voice whispered from beside Serena's left ear. She whirled and found herself looking into the masked midnight blue eyes of Tuxedo Mask. "May I have this dance, Sailor Moon?" the tuxedo-clad warrior of the night asked with a dangerous but charming smile.

"With pleasure, Tuxedo Mask," Serena said with what she was fretting was a rather silly smile. To Tuxedo Mask, it lit up the whole room like a sun-bulb. The tall man took the girl by the hand and waist and swept her onto the ballroom floor. After a few tense moments of worry, Serena relaxed into the rhythms of the dance. Somehow, she found that she could dance the slow, formal dances perfectly. This was despite the fact that she _knew_ that she had never danced the waltz or the foxtrot ever before. 

Over to one side, Raye suddenly had difficulty seeing past the tears in her eyes. _Why_ did this seem so familiar? Why did it seem so _right_?

Serena looked up into the eyes of her… date, yes, that was the word… and smiled. "You know," she said in a strangely mature voice, "I was hoping that I would see you here tonight, and maybe have the chance to do this."

"Me too," Tuxedo Mask replied with a genuine smile, squeezing her hand gently. With that truth declared, Serena pulled herself closer to Tuxedo Mask as a slower dance began and leant forward against his chest. As his arm tightened around her waist, she let all hint of time, place and mission drift away in a sense of total _belonging_ and _safety_. 

Finally, although it seemed to have been only moments to Serena, Tuxedo Mask steered her over to the side of the ballroom and released her, bowing deeply to her before taking her right hand and kissing her knuckles. Serena blushed prettily and looked away.

"Bunny!" hissed a voice from below. 

Serena turned and smiled at her guardian, still in a slightly blissed-out haze. "Hi, Luna!" she murmured. Then she realised that Tuxedo Mask had vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. _How does he _do_ that?_ she asked herself. She blinked and, reluctantly, turned back to the matters at hand. "Have you found Princess Desiré yet?"

"Yes, she is in one of the Embassy's state rooms," Luna reported. "I didn't feel anything special from her; she isn't a Senshi and she certainly isn't our Princess."

Serena nodded. "What about the treasure?" she asked.

It seemed, in fact, that the Treasure of Diamunte was on everyone's mind. All around the Champion of Love and Justice, and her feline guardian, people were talking about the Treasure. They couldn't _wait_ to see it! Everyone was wondering what it might be! Would be a gigantic gemstone? Alternatively, was it perhaps some kind of religious artefact?

That anticipation weighed heavily on the shoulders of the most important guest at the Embassy that night.

**__**

Chapter 4 – Shadow of the Soul

Desiré von Diamunte sat in a small side office near the ballroom, looking out the window at nothing, or so it seemed. Actually, she was looking at the reflection of her face in the glass. She wasn't admiring her beauty; she wasn't delusional, after all. Rather she was wondering why she had bothered to turn up tonight. There was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called.

A tuxedo-clad man, her country's ambassador to Japan, entered. "Your Highness," he said, "it is time."

"Yes, it is time," the blonde girl replied. "Time to do the only thing that makes me welcome here." With a deep, heartfelt sigh, the girl strode out of the room, her pearly white dress billowing out around her gracefully. She strode out into the hallway and gestured at the nearest figure, a tall, supernaturally beautiful black-haired woman who was wearing a tight fighting and daring trouser suit with a corset blouse that exposed her midriff. "You, come here," the princess commanded. "Show me to my rooms so I can fetch the treasure. I'm sure to get lost in this blasted maze that passes for our embassy otherwise."

"Of course, Your Highness," the woman said in a calm, passionless tone of voice. "I will be glad to help you."

It was actually quite ironic that Princess Desiré felt as she did. For, in fact, she was beautiful, graceful and regal: everything that a princess should be. However, all she could see was her unremarkable features, made worse by the thick glasses, which was the result of the myopia that was hereditary in the women of her family. In fact, she was quite certain that she wasn't worth anything to anyone gathered in her country's embassy that night. "Treasure this and Treasure that," she sighed. "Everything is about this blasted treasure. No one is interested in _me_. If I was more beautiful, maybe they would gather by the hundred to see _me_ instead."

"That's right," the woman suddenly said. "No one cares about you. You are the heir to a third-rate monarchy. No one cares about you as much as they care about your family's wealth. _No one _is interested in anything about you."

Princess Desiré span around and stared at the woman. "You… How… How _dare_ you?" she spluttered.

The woman took a few steps forwards. She was smiling in a vicious, hateful manner. Nightmarishly, her eyes had begun to glow brightly with a dark green light. "You know it is true, Princess," she hissed malevolently. "No one thinks anything of you. You are ugly and unlovable. Only your family's wealth makes anyone even bother to listen to a word that falls from your misshapen mouth." Tears started in the princess' eyes. The woman laughed. "But I can help you little princess. Open yourself to me and I will see to it that everyone listens to you and that you are the centre of attention, just as you truly want it to be."

"I… I… I do want that…" Desiré whispered, hardly realising what she was saying. She couldn't move her gaze away from the woman's glowing eyes.

Suddenly, there was a surge of grey-green light and motion. The woman's body dissolved, leaving her clothes to fall limply to the ground. Desiré tried to scream, but no sound came past her lips as the light, now resembling a human shadow funnelled into her nose, ears, eyes and mouth. When it was all over, the princess' eyes glowed grey-green with malevolent power. With a sadistic, predatory smile, the girl quickly turned and raced off towards her rooms. The suddenly empty corridor echoed with the malicious laughter of General Nephrite.

The girl raced past several confused Embassy staffers. When she reached the doors to her rooms, she slammed them open so hard that they rattled in their frame. She snatched up the chest containing the Treasure with an insane little giggle. "The treasure is mine now," she hissed.

"Your Highness?" the girl turned around to see two of the staffers standing in the door. "Your Highness, are you all right?" one asked.

"Are you concerned about me?" the girl hissed. "Well that's good. From now that is _all_ you will be concerned about!" Beams of green light flashed from her eyes and the two men's eyes became blank and unseeing. The blonde girl grinned in demonic triumph. The first of her loyal and devoted admirers had come into existence. "Now, slaves, you will assist me in taking the Treasure to our Master."

***

For Serena, it all happened so quickly that she had to think back carefully if she wanted it to make any sense. She was standing on a balcony overlooking the Embassy's gardens. She was thinking about Tuxedo Mask, and the feelings that she experienced when he danced with her. Everything was completely normal. There had been no sign of any threat or danger all night. Then, someone screamed. "Look out, the Princess has gone crazy!"

Serena turned around to see a girl, who she immediately recognised as Princess Desiré, racing towards her. Two guys in suits were running alongside her, pushing people out of her way. "Out of my way, peasants!" Desiré was shouting. "This Treasure belongs to my Master now!"

Serena froze in shock for a second. _Her 'Master'?_ she thought in horror. _That is what people enslaved by the Enemy are always saying!_

"Serena, she's heading right for the balcony!" Luna hissed from where she was huddling under her charge's skirts. "She'll be killed if she tries to jump to ground level!"

Serena didn't need to be told twice. She darted forwards and seized the girl in a headlock, trying to drag her backwards. "Listen to me," she hissed into the smaller girl's ear. "You have been possessed! Fight back! The Enemy wants to use you for their own ends! You _don't matter to them_!"

Desiré snarled. "I know that, idiot," she hissed. "But the Dark Kingdom has given me the means to have my heart's desire! I do not care for _anything_ else! SLAVES!" The two men who had been running alongside the princess suddenly jumped forwards and grabbed Serena's arms. The girl recoiled in horror as she took in the utter mindless _blankness_ of their expression. Princess Desiré smiled in triumph and nodded once, briefly. Without changing expression once, the two men heaved Serena over the railing of the balcony and turned away.

As she soared through the air, Serena screamed as she desperately tried to grab the railing. She was too far and she felt as deep a fear as she had ever known as the balcony fell away from her searching hands and the ground started to race towards her…. Then a vice-like grip snapped closed around her left wrist. Tuxedo Mask was half over the railing himself as he desperately tried to hang onto her wrist. "S… Sailor Moon," he gasped. "Try to climb up, you're pulling me over too!"

Serena, using a little of her school gymnastics lessons for the first time, swung up her feet and tried to get purchase on the marble wall of the Embassy with her hideously impractical high-heeled shoes. Suddenly, her communicator started to bleep. Serena swung her right hand up to grab Tuxedo Mask's wrist and used the motion to open her communicator. "Moon here! What's going on!"

"_Sailor Moon,_" Amy's voice called out. "_Princess Desiré has been possessed by the Enemy somehow! She is hypnotising everyone in the ballroom!_"

***

Desiré… or rather the thing controlling her… laughed insanely as more of the people came under her spell. "You are my slaves!" she called out. "You exist only to give me the love and attention that I deserve!"

"Oh no you don't!" a voice shouted out. Desiré turned to face the two dark-haired women, one with long hair in a black dress and one with short hair in a pale blue dress. Much to her surprise, her hypnotic powers didn't affect them. "You will not succeed in your plans, evil one," the woman with long black hair announced. She pulled out a red crystalline pen or wand and held it up in the air. Her companion, who had shorter blue-black hair, pulled out and held up a blue pen. "Mars Power!" the first woman declared.

"Mercury Power!" added the second.

"_Make Up_!" they both chorused. The first woman disappeared in a column of flame and the second in a sparkling vortex of glowing ribbons and trails of snowflakes.

Desiré snarled and gestured to a phalanx of her slaves, ordering them to deal with the interlopers who _dared_ not give her the admiration that she deserved. She saw the man in the tuxedo trying to rescue the first interloper and gestured to another slave.

***

Tuxedo Mask grunted with discomfort as Sailor Moon slowly clambered up his arm. Suddenly, something hit him and he was tumbling over the railing. Operating on an instinct that he couldn't understand, he grabbed the disguised warrior maiden and held her to him, trying to somehow cushion her fall with his body.

Serena screamed in panic, but something happened that she didn't understand. She somehow _knew_ what to do. She lifted up her Disguise Pen and pressed the metal pocket clip. Suddenly the pen more than quadrupled in length and turned into some kind of parasol. The thing opened like an umbrella and crystals at the end of every armature began to glow. Sitting on the balcony, Luna drew in a deep breath, thanking Selene that Serena had remembered, somehow, that the Disguise Pen had a secondary Gravity Parachute function.

With the gentle grace of a dandelion seed, Serena and Tuxedo Mask drifted down to ground level, suspended underneath the parasol-like magical parachute. When they touched down, Serena, feeling very weird, folded it up and watched as it shrank back into the Disguise Pen. "Nice timing, Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said. Serena looked into the masked hero's face and saw his good-natured smile. "You've saved me once again, but now you have to save everyone else. Farewell!" And with that, he raced off towards the entrance of the Embassy.

"Tuxedo Mask! Wait!" Serena called out. She sighed, feeling melancholy for no reason that she could understand. _But it is you who saves me all the time_, she thought miserably. She shook her head firmly. She could indulge in wool gathering later. The Enemy had attacked and, no doubt, Amy and Raye could use her help by now. She touched the choker around her throat and felt the power of her Prism Brooch. "Moon Prism Power! _Make Up_!"

***

Sailor Moon jumped the thirty feet back up to the balcony with easy "Okay, Demon," she called out as she landed gracefully on her feet. "I am the pretty sailor-suited soldier of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon. I protect the innocent from evil, and that means _you_! In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"

"Moon, will you cut out the lame speeches and get your butt over here?" Sailor Mars yelled. "You're late as usual and now we're in serious trouble!" Mars was using her Soul Blade to keep back blank-eyed party goers, while Sailor Mercury was using a narrow-beam Bubbles Blast attack like a water cannon to drive back those who tried to attack her.

"What the hell is going on?" Sailor Moon asked. She somersaulted forwards, catching a zombie on the chin with both feet, sending him tumbling away from Sailor Mars.

"She's hypnotised everyone!" Mars reported tersely. "She's using them to keep us away from her, so I can't break the spell that is controlling her!" 

Sailor Moon's eyes widened in horror when she saw her father amongst the legions of the brainwashed surrounding Princess Desiré. The girl was glowing with grey-green light as the ambient light level in the room dimmed. _Daddy…?_ Sailor Moon shook her head. She had to focus. She looked through her mask and let her second sight reveal what was going on. Trails of energy connected every zombie to Princess Desiré. From the interplay of colours, she guessed that the possessed princess was tapping out her victims' life forces.

Princess Desiré was gracious enough to confirm this. "You fools, you can't win," she giggled. "They belong to me now, just as the Treasure and their life forces belong to my master."

"We have to drive whatever that thing is out of the princess," Serena declared as she drove a trio of zombies back with a feint with her soul blade.

"Tell me something that I _don't_ know, Ondango," Mars snapped.

Serena's lips pressed together in annoyance, but this wasn't the time or the place to indulge Raye's infantile need to put down anyone who threatened her sense of superiority. "On my mark, girls. Mercury and I will make the opening, so you'd better be ready Pyro!" Raye scowled at hearing that hated nickname, but she pulled out an evil expulsion charm and nodded. "Okay, NOW! Moon Tiara Shriek!" Serena threw her tiara, which began to circle the ballroom emitting a brain-liquefying sound.

"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" Visibility dropped to zero as Amy filled the ballroom with a freezing fog.

The sound coming from the Moon Tiara instantly disrupted the princess' control over her slaves and they stopped their purposeful advance, starting to twitch and tremble instead. Raye didn't need any more opening than this. She raced forward, vaulting over one twitching zombie and kicking aside a second before reaching Princess Desiré, who was covering her ears in a futile attempt to filter out the sound of the tiara's shriek. "This is going to hurt you more than it will hurt me, kid," Sailor Mars announced. She muttered a prayer over her charm and slapped it onto the princess' forehead. "Aku Ryo Tai San!" she declared.

Princess Desiré staggered back, but her behaviour didn't change much. If anything, she became even more vicious. "Fool, your superstitious nonsense can't affect _me_!" she snapped. She stared at Mars and a beam of energy shot from her eyes, blowing the Senshi of Fire and Passion back several paces. 

"How… how did it resist that charm?" Raye spluttered. The tiara had returned to Serena and the zombies had begun their purposeful advance again. Princess Desiré's giggling had taken on the sound quality of fingernails on a blackboard.

Sailor Mercury summoned her TACS computer. In her fighting form, she didn't need to use the clumsy handset, rather a pair of glass lenses slid out from her tiara and covered her eyes. Suddenly she could see all the sensory data from her computer suspended before her eyes in a kind of heads-up display. She could even control the computer through eye movements. She did so now, ordering a full-spectrum scan of Princess Desiré. "She isn't possessed," Mercury reported. "There is some kind of energy overlaying and filling her body that is controlling her movements." Amy shook her head and dismissed the HUD lenses. "It is like her shadow has gained substance and is controlling her!"

"So what do we do about it?" Serena asked, her voice coloured by fear and anxiety. She _had_ to help her father, but she was all out of ideas. She had rather hoped that Raye's charm would do the job. She jumped back as a whole score of zombies charged her. Suddenly, a trio of roses fell in between her and her adversaries, making the brainwashed partygoers reel back in pain. "Tuxedo Mask!"

The formal-suited warrior of the night was standing on the balcony railing, now with his full regalia of cape, top hat and cane. "Sailor Moon!" he called out. "The only way to drive out a shadow is to force it to face the light!"

"Face… the light…" Sailor Moon said in a strange tone of voice. _Yes… I can do that_, she realised. She didn't know how or why, but she could _remember_ a way to do just that. She jumped over the first line of zombies to face the giggling princess. She focussed her mind and allowed the power of the Moon to flow outwards through her body. To the observer, the light leaking out of various parts of her costume suddenly grew far more intense. "Moon twilight… _shine_!" Serena declared. The light intensified still further and spread until Serena was a human-shaped image seemingly made out of silver-white light… Then the light grew even brighter still and exploded out, filling every nook and cranny of the ballroom with the intense silver-white light of the full moon.

Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars all covered their eyes, but the light shone through hands and eyelids without any loss of intensity. The zombies all staggered and then tumbled nervelessly to the ground as if they were puppets whose strings someone had suddenly cut. Princess Desiré herself screamed in agony as the light physically drove the monstrous evil from her body. On the wall behind her, her shadow writhed in a way that no movement of the human body could cause. As it twisted and turned, it lost its' human shape and began to swell, rapidly resembling a tentacled cloud.

When the light finally died away, the princess tumbled to the ground too, her body drained of strength by the purification that it had just experienced. The four young heroes' eyes opened very wide when they saw the massive twisting black cloud hovering over the prostrate girl. "That is it," Sailor Moon declared. "The shadow that controlled the princess!"

"Nice job, Ondango," Mars snapped, stepping forwards. "Now it's my turn! Fire _Soul_!" The black-haired young woman threw a blazing fireball at the twisting cloud of shadow. Much to her shock, the attack went _right through_ the monstrous shape and struck the wall behind it. The creature responded with a roar, lashing out with a tentacle seemingly made of pure shadow. Serena barely knocked Raye aside before the shadow slammed into the spot where she had been standing, shattering the marble floor like it was made of glass.

Mercury activated her computer again and scanned the monster. "It's made out of some kind of poison gas!" she cried out. "Physical attacks won't harm it! It's too diffuse!" She dived one way and Tuxedo Mask dived the other as another tentacle lashed out at them, smashing the railing on the balcony into gravel. 

Tuxedo Mask threw an energised rose at the monster, but it went right threw and blew a chandelier into crystal shrapnel. "Now what?" Serena wailed, her voice rising in panic.

"We… we have to solidify it somehow," Amy replied, her voice shaky, but somehow _certain_, as if she knew something… or had _remembered_ something… that the others had not. _My power is over water, and most importantly over ice and cold… If I could concentrate that somehow…_ Amy, as if in a dream stepped right up to the writhing cloud. "Mercury, get away from that thing!" Raye screamed as a tentacle reached out for the petite Senshi of Water and Wisdom.

Sailor Mercury raised a hand and thrust it out towards the gas-creature. "Mercury ice bolt!" she cried out. A star of blue-white energy materialised in her hand and spat towards the oncoming monster like a miniaturised meteor. It struck the cloud of gas and had an immediate effect. The creature made a strange, unearthly groaning noise and began to shrink, getting darker and darker. There was a loud crackling noise like the sound of an ice cube shattering when put in a drink. The creature shrunk still further, taking on a solid aspect. In a matter of moments, a frost-covered grey-black ball of _something_ fell to the ballroom floor with a solid-sounding 'thud'.

There was a brief, disbelieving silence. "Nice work, Mercury," Sailor Moon said with a smile at her blue-haired friend. Mercury blushed and smiled a little, pleased to have been of use.

"Yeah, great work, Mercury," Mars said, stepping forwards. "Now to finish this once and for all. Mars Fire…"

"No!" Serena slapped Raye's arms up and away, disrupting her spell before she could unleash the fires of her namesake world against the frozen demon.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mars screeched.

"Use your brain, Pyro!" Moon shot back. "If you use fire against that thing, you'll free it from Mercury's ice and we'll have to start all over again!"

Raye felt incredibly embarrassed that _Serena_ had better grasp of the physics of the situation than she did. She tried to cover it up with acid sarcasm. "Oh, and I suppose _you_ have a better idea, Ondango Atama?"

Serena grinned. "Actually, I do," she replied. She pulled her tiara from her brow and charged it up, turning it into a discus-like weapon. "Moon tiara action!" she cried out, throwing the weapon at the frozen monster. The tiara screeched right across the ballroom and struck the frozen ball that was the gas-monster, shattering it into thousands of tiny shards that quickly faded away into puffs of grey ash and then nothingness. Sailor Moon caught her returning tiara and resettled it on her brow, smiling at the scowling Sailor Mars. "Moon-dusted," she said with a wink.

***

Nephrite fell backwards as his monster, which was based on his shadow and, therefore, contained a little of his essential self, was completely annihilated. "What the…?" he spluttered. "Those sailor brats have beaten me again! I will make them _pay _for this!" In the back of his mind, however, he was cowering and gibbering. _How will I explain this to the Queen?_

***

With the destruction of the shadow/gas-demon, everything in the ballroom had returned to normal, except for the holes made by the demon's attacks, the shattered chandelier and the huge scorch mark on the far wall from Sailor Mars' Fire Soul attack. The party guests were staggering to their feet uncertainly, looking around themselves and looking at their tattered clothing, uncertain as to what precisely had just happened. 

Princess Desiré moaned piteously and tried to get up, but she was still too weak. The three Senshi crowded around her and helped her to stand. As they did so, her glasses fell off and the three warrior girls gasped in surprise, droplets of sweat appearing beside their faces. Without her glasses, Desiré was a picture of innocent beauty, with wide blue eyes that shone with life and humour. She truly was beautiful. "Oh my, what happened?" she gasped. "The last thing I remember was being in a corridor!" She peered myopically at Serena. Then she knelt and began to feel around her. "My glasses!" she said. "I can't see a thing without them!" Amy put the glasses in the girl's hands and she put them on, becoming unremarkable Princess Desiré again.

"Guys," Serena whispered to her friends, "do you think that maybe if Melvin were to replace his glasses with contacts…?"

Droplets of sweat appeared beside Luna, Raye and Amy's faces. "No way," Raye said hurriedly.

**__**

Chapter 5 – Aftermath

Things calmed down very quickly as the party guests realised that everything was 'back to normal'. Serena had come to realise that it was an odd trick of the human mind that it automatically censored out facts of reality that it found too worrying to consider at any length. People didn't want to think about how they were living in a world where monsters could attack at any moment… so they didn't. Ignorance, it seemed, was not only bliss, but also mandatory for any kind of normal life.

Serena, Raye and Amy decided to hang around, even though the Enemy's plan seemed defeated. After all, there was always the chance that Nephrite himself might make one of his rare appearances in an attempt to salvage the situation. Because there was no way of avoiding it, they remained in their Senshi forms and thanked the gods for the glamour magic in their transformations that stopped even their closest relatives from recognising them.

Serena had particular reason to be thankful. Her father was trying to interview her. She was, therefore, grateful when a thrill of excitement passed through the crowds, catching her father's attention and diverting it completely away from his interview with one of Tokyo's resident superheroines. She turned around to See Princess Desiré, along with some flunkies carrying cases and chests, step out into the ballroom. "My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen," the head flunky cried out. "Pray your attention for her Royal Highness Desiré, Princess of the Kingdom of Diamunte."

There was a smattering of polite applause that made the young princess blush slightly. "Thank you," she said in a quiet but firm voice. "Tonight has been a night to remember for many reasons. I hope that you will all remember the hospitality of my nation this night, and go your way remembering us as friends." The girl drew in a deep breath before continuing. "I know that many of you are looking forward to seeing my country's greatest treasure. However, I feel that I have another duty to perform first.

"Tonight, we witnessed courage of the greatest sort, when three heroines fought to protect us, mere strangers, from the dark forces that threaten our world. It has always been the custom in Diamunte to reward such courage and kindness. Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars, please step forwards."

Serena's eyes widened in surprise and she caught Raye's gaze. The black-haired girl smiled slightly and shrugged, gesturing that Serena should do as the princess had requested. Then she grabbed a suddenly nervous Amy and dragged her out of the crowd.

The princess smiled at the three Senshi in a regal, if slightly acted manner. "None of us would be alive at this moment if it were not for your efforts, Sailor Senshi," Desiré announced. "It is our wish to reward your efforts." Serena opened her mouth to tell the princess that it was unnecessary, that they were only doing their jobs, but her eyes were caught by the contents of a briefcase that one of the Embassy flunkies had just opened and the words died away on her lips. There were three jewel-studded star-shaped medals lying on a velvet background. "This is the Order of the Crystal Star," Desiré explained, "the highest honour that my country can award to a citizen of another nation."

The small princess pinned the shining star-shaped medals, which were mounted on leaf green velvet bows, to the breast of each Senshi's fuku. Much to Serena's surprise, she found herself talking. She didn't know where the words came from, but they seemed _right_ somehow, so she didn't worry too much about it. "Your Highness, on behalf of myself and my sister Senshi, I thank you for this great honour that you have bestowed upon us," she said in a strangely… _regal_… tone of voice. "Although we do not seek reward for doing the duty that we are sworn to carry out, we accept these awards in the hopes that it represents the beginning of a long and peaceful friendship between your kingdom and ours." Luna looked ready to faint at hearing Serena sound so mature. Even Raye was impressed.

After the three Senshi had faded into the crowd, Desiré turned to another flunky, who handed her the chest containing the Treasure of Diamunte. "And now for the moment that I know that you have all been waiting for," the princess joked. "The unveiling of the Treasure of the Kingdom of Diamunte." The girl put down the chest and pulled out a key that had been hanging from her necklace. She unlocked the chest and opened its' lid. Everyone held his or her breaths.

There was a chorus of 'ooh' and 'wow' as Desiré lifted out a crystalline statuette of a woman who greatly resembled her, right down to the bottle-glass lensed spectacles. "Cut out of a single 2,000 carat raw diamond, a statue of my grandmother, Queen Helena of Diamunte," Desiré announced with a broad smile.

A great droplet of sweat appeared next to Amy, Luna and Raye's faces. "Is… is _that_ it?" Raye spluttered. The statuette was hardly what _she_ would call a 'treasure'.

"I… I guess so…" Luna murmured quietly.

Amy was looking around. "Has anyone seen Bu… I mean Sailor Moon?" she asked.

***

Serena had wandered away from the crowds. She found that she didn't care to see the Treasure after all. She had too much to think about. 

Firstly, of course, she and Amy had found new powers. That was a good thing, as it meant that they could fight the Enemy more effectively. However, the way that the knowledge of her new power simply _appeared_ in her mind, as if it were a memory, disturbed her. There was clearly a lot about their powers and their identity as Senshi that Luna hadn't told them about yet. Despite her protestations that they were 'not ready', Serena decided that she, Raye and Amy needed to corner the cat and insist on being told the whole truth.

Secondly, and on a more personal level, she was thinking about dancing with Tuxedo Mask. She had wanted him to be here. Hell, she had _expected_ him to be here. And dancing with him felt so reassuring and so… _familiar_. _What is happening to me?_ Serena thought with a sigh. _I seem to have a whole part of my mind with memories that I never knew I had. Is this something that being a Senshi does to you? Or is there a part of my life that I know nothing about? And if so, how could that be? I'm only fourteen!_

Serena absentmindedly picked up a glass of sparkling something and sipped it. It was tangy on her tongue and warm as it slid down her throat. "Hmm! Not bad!" she said. She finished the drink with one gulp and felt the odd sensation of bubbles up her nose. She liked it so much, that she had another. When she finished the second glass, the world started to sway slightly. _What is it?_ she thought hazily. _Are we having an earthquake?_

Much to Serena's surprise, a fit of hiccups suddenly seized her. Desperate to find a glass of water, she weaved across the ballroom towards the kitchens, despite the fact there was no one and nothing in the way. She giggled at nothing in particular and suddenly took two steps backwards, unable to keep her balance. She fell against a warm, muscular male chest. She looked up and, much to her delight, saw Tuxedo Mask and his identical twin brother. "Sorry, Tuxedo Mask-sama," she giggled. 

Suddenly, she felt very tired and she snuggled against Tuxedo Mask's chest. "That's nice," she sighed, feeling incredibly safe as she hugged the mysterious warrior of the night. 

Behind his mask, Tuxedo Mask blushed brightly as the young Senshi of Love and Justice snuggled up against him. He felt a strange sense of protectiveness and affection for the little warrior maiden who was attempting to use him as a cushion. Despite himself, he chuckled. "I'll guess that you aren't used to champagne," he said.

"Was that what I drunk?" Sailor Moon asked, still swaying despite the fact she was tightly hugging Tuxedo Mask. "Shimmatta! I don't usually drink alcohol! Daddy will kill me if he finds out! *Hic!*" Serena giggled when she realised that her father would _never_ find out. "On the other hand…" She leaned close. "All the squares are drooling over the princess's gems, Tux-boy," she whispered sensually in Tuxedo Mask's ear, making him blush even brighter than before. "We've got the entire Embassy to ourselves! Let's party, handsome!"

Tuxedo Mask grinned. "You are _definitely_ not used to champagne," he announced. "Come over here and rest until your friends can get you home."

"Don't wanna rest," Serena whined. "Wanna paaarrrtyyy!" Tuxedo Mask laughed and lifted the small heroine up into his arms. Serena sighed and suddenly felt incredibly tired as she snuggled into Tuxedo Mask's arms. 

Tuxedo Mask looked down into Sailor Moon's pale, beautiful and almost elfin face and remembered what she said to him earlier: 'You know, I was hoping that I would see you here tonight, and maybe have the chance to do this.' Yes, he had hoped to see her too. He didn't need to think about it for a moment. He _knew _that he wanted to dance with her. What is more, he knew that she could dance and knew how much she loved it. _Who are you, Sailor Moon?_ Tuxedo Mask asked himself. _How is it that I know you so well?_

The tall formal-clad warrior gently placed Sailor Moon on a divan couch sitting on the balcony overlooking the Embassy's gardens. He sat down beside her, determined to guard the tipsy girl until her friends came for her. He reached out hesitantly and brushed a lock of golden blonde hair from her eyes. The girl's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at her champion, a slight smile gracing her lips. Drawn by a need that neither understood or _wanted_ to understand, they leaned towards each other… and their lips met in a gentle, loving kiss. 

Serena's mind was suddenly completely clear of the haze of alcohol. _Ah!_ she moaned in her mind. _Kami-sama, this is so familiar…_ There was such tenderness in Tuxedo Mask's eyes that all of Serena's nervousness and youthful fears fell away. She reached up and held him by the back of the head and shoulder so that she could kiss him again. This time, the kiss was longer. Serena felt the man's tongue brush across her lips and she opened her mouth to let him in. One of Tuxedo Mask's arms wrapped around her back and another cradled her head. Both young people lost all sense of time and place as they kissed again and again. _This feels like something that I've done before… _realised a small part of Serena that could still think rationally. _A long time ago… somewhere…_

Similar thoughts raced through Tuxedo Mask's mind. _Warm arms, soft lips and sweet kisses. This is something that I remember doing many, many times with you…_

"Step away from Sailor Moon you _hentai_!" snapped a familiar voice. Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon broke contact to look at Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars (accompanied by Luna), who were staring at them in an angry, accusing way. It took a lot of effort for them to clear their thoughts of the blissful haze that had come upon them the moment that their lips first touched.

Seeing murder in Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury's expressions, Tuxedo Mask stood up and, after stroking a still-disoriented Sailor Moon's silky-soft hair one more time, he backed away from the divan where she was lying. The other two Senshi immediately jumped in between them and took a defensive posture. Luna stepped forwards to face Tuxedo Mask. "Who are you, Tuxedo Mask?" she asked firmly. She noticed, without much surprise, that the man did not react to her speaking. She figured that he remembered her choice comments when he caught her when she fell from the 'Phantom Bus' on Sendai Hill. "Where do you come from? Why do you always appear out of nowhere when Sailor Moon is fighting?"

Tuxedo Mask decided that he should answer Luna as completely as he could so he could leave as soon as possible. He _had_ to have time to think about the sensations and the dim memories that had coursed through him when he kissed Sailor Moon. "I am on a quest to find the Silver Imperium Crystal for a lost princess who appears in my dreams," he announced.

Luna frowned. "Who's side are you on?" she asked.

Tuxedo Mask smiled. "I'm on _my_ side," he said with an easy laugh. "However, as we are competing for the same prize, perhaps we are ultimately destined to be enemies. I just don't know." Suddenly, before anyone could react, he jumped up onto the railing and leapt off into the night.

Raye and Amy helped the befuddled Serena to her feet. "Come on, Ondango, let's get you home so you can sleep this off," Raye said with rough affection as she tried to support Serena's weight on one side, Amy on the other.

Luna was watching the direction in which Tuxedo Mask had vanished. "Enemies…" she repeated quietly. "I wonder…"

***

In another part of Tokyo, a 14-year-old brunette named Lita Wood was walking home from an all-night convenience store. She stopped and she looked up at the moon. She had no idea why, but suddenly she felt tense and cold, as if someone had walked over her grave. She sucked in a deep breath and felt electricity in the air. "There is a storm on the way," she announced to nobody. Then, much faster than before, she set off once again for home.

__

To be continued…


End file.
